


Overwhelmed

by SilverMidnight



Category: S.W.A.T. (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Choking, Hallucinations, Head Injury, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:02:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 35,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26787913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverMidnight/pseuds/SilverMidnight
Summary: After a run in with a manipulative killer Street finds himself thinking too much about everything that he's tried so hard to avoid.
Relationships: Dominique Luca/Jim Street
Comments: 6
Kudos: 108





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not going to lie this took longer than it probably should have. I had to start over many many times, but I'm finally happy with it and I hope you shall be too!
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> If you want to be kept up to date with any upcoming stories or want to ask me to write a story for you please follow me on Facebook 'SilverMidnight52' or on Tumblr under SilverMidnightWrite! I own nothing.

Letting his eyes roam over the warehouse Street found himself forcing back a groan before he started after the suspect once more. He knew that they weren't always going to be going up against people that were as physically fit as they were, but he'd be happy if it happened a little more often. Hell, he'd take them being a little more afraid to _jump off of buildings._ He wasn't sure how much more his knees could take.

Alright, that was a lie. He knew that he wasn't even close to wanting or needing to throw in his hat, but the case they were working on kept dragging on and on and he was tired. All he wanted was to curl up in his bed and sleep. Actually sleep. In his own bed instead of a couch at the precinct. Which he was almost positive he was about to get called out for.

For the last few months everyone on S.W.A.T. had been focused on taking down an up and coming crime boss. Even after all the time that had passed they still weren't sure how an organization with so many people was able to be built without anyone knowing until it was almost too late. No, not 'almost' too late. They were too late.

The case had been brought to them after the organization had killed a total of ten people in the span of three weeks. At first they hadn't even thought to link the cases together. They had all known that they weren't random by any means, but they hadn't seemed linked either.

It wasn't until the death total had jumped up to seventeen that they had finally figured out that all of it was connected. If he was honest he couldn't remember exactly how they had connected all the dots together. All he knew was they finally had a target to go after. Well, more than a few targets actually.

For the most part it hadn't been all that difficult to round everyone up and put a stop to most of the organization. Even though their death toll had climbed quickly there hadn't been that many people. They had just had some very good leaders.

Good enough that they were the only ones that were left. Months of running around feeling as if they may never bring an end to them all that was left were the leaders. They were so close. Just two more people.

With the knowledge that it was only them left the team had decided to split in half and focus on figuring out one. They knew that the men were closely tied together, but there was too much information for all of them to be working on both men at the same time.

Chris, Tan, and himself had spent the last few weeks investigating a man named Eliot Baylon. Unsurprising, it had been damn near impossible to find anything on him. At least anything in recent years. As soon as the man turned 29 it was as if he had fallen off the face of the planet.

From what they had been able to gather he was a fairly average person. He did decent throughout his schooling before moving to LA to take over the cafe his grandmother had after she passed away. There was nothing to make it seem as if there needed to be concern about him. He was just a person.

At least there wasn't until he met James Keller. Something else that made no sense. Keller, like Baylon, had been completely average. Hell, he had even been going to college to earn a degree in child psychology.

It seemed as if all of that changed when the men met each other. The relationship that they had would have been something else if there hadn't been so many bodies trailing behind them. Or that was what the suspects they had taken down already seemed to say.

From everything that they had been able to gather the reason they had been able to build their organization as quickly as they had was because of how they played off each other. It was as if they could read a person and convince them to do things that would normally horrify them. It was like nothing he had ever seen before.

A part of him wanted to compare them to cult leaders but that didn't seem to fit either. From what they were told they weren't looking to be worshiped or have their words be law. It was almost as if they had seen something familiar in the people and had decided to explore it.

If he was honest, Street had no idea what he was supposed to think about the whole thing. It all just seemed too much to be true. There was no way that two normal people had caused so much chaos and heartbreak and death. It just didn't seem possible.

Not that any of that really mattered though. The evidence was right in front of him and the entire team. Everyone saw them for who they were and they all knew that they had to be stopped before more people died.

Which lead him to where he was now. He and Tan had just been going to question one of the victims family members when Baylon had strolled in. He had looked completely at ease even after they had noticed it was him.

Before they could fully introduce themselves as SWAT and arrest him Baylon had pulled out a gun and started to open fire. They had tried to get everyone out of harms way, but some people had been hit.

A moment later Baylon was running out of the building and, after checking that Tan was taking care of the hurt, Street had taken off after him. Something that he realized now that he was alone was probably not the best idea. He really didn't want to think of how often he felt that way.

"Eliot Baylon!" Street called out knowing that his best course of action was going to be trying to get the man one on one so he didn't lose him, "This is LAPD SWAT. I know you're-"

"In here?" a deep voice offered sounding calmer than he expected as the man walked out of the shadows, "I'm not hiding, Dear."

A shiver that he hated himself for ran down Streets spine as Baylon came to a stop in front of him. The man already had his hands held up in front of him to show that he was no longer holding a weapon. Somehow seeing that didn't make the younger man feel better.

"Eliot Baylon," Street started slowly making his way forward his gun steady on the man knowing that he could still very easily have the gun he had before, "You're under arrest for-"

"I hate to interrupt," Baylon offered a sad, almost shy smile coming to his lips, "But don't you think it's a bit odd that you know my name and I don't know yours?"

"What?"

"You have to admit it is a little rude."

For a moment everything that Streets mind seemed to blank completely. In all the years he had been arresting people never once had someone asked his name like that. People had done it with sneers and sarcastic remarks, but never so sincerely. It didn't make any sense.

Yet somehow it fit perfectly with everything that he knew about Baylon. He and Keller had worked hard to get into peoples mind and convince them to kill. That was what he was trying to do now. If he could get into Streets mind he probably thought he could get out Scot-free. It was an interesting tactic.

"Tell me," Baylon suddenly questioned his head cocking to the side, "How long have you been studying up on me?"

"I…" Street started to answer before shaking his head at his own stupidity, "It doesn't matter."

"Of course it does. So much time wasted learning about me and for what?"

"To arrest you. To stop you from killing more people."

Street watched as the mans shoulders sagged as a sigh fell from his lips. An all too familiar feeling coursed through him at that. He had seen that look on so many peoples faces and for some reason it hit just as hard as it did for anyone else.

It shouldn't matter to him what the man thought. He was a murderer. There was no doubt about that. There was so much evidence piled up against him that having a trial was only a formality at that point.

So why did he hate the dismissal from the man? Why was it he felt like an apology was on the tip of his tongue? Why did he want nothing more than to try to convince the man that he was nothing like the person he saw him as?

It had taken so long for Street to finally be able to be himself without second guessing everything. Okay, so he was still trying to figure out how to do that, but he had gotten a lot better than he had been before.

After everything that went down with his mother and almost losing the team he couldn't let that part of him takeover anymore. He knew beyond a doubt that if he did than it was just going to lead to his own destruction. He didn't want that.

Yet standing in front of Baylon watching him look so disappointed he couldn't help as all those feelings threatened to take over and pull him down once more. It was so disorienting and it felt as if there was nothing he could do to get his feet steady underneath him.

Slowly the killer let his arms drop to his sides as he took a step forward. A voice in the back of his head barked at him to pay attention, but it sounded muffled and far away. The only thing he could hear was Baylon starting up once more.

"You're a smart man, aren't you? You have to be. You wouldn't be standing in front of me. And yet you reduce yourself to _this._ "

A shiver ran down Street's spine at that tone. He had heard it a thousand times growing up. It was exactly like some of the foster parents. It almost always came right before he was smacked to the floor.

It had been a long time since he had been afraid of being hit. Between his father and some of the foster homes he had gotten fairly used to it. He never really thought that the abuse was normal. It was more something that he had to deal with. Then he learned how to hit back.

He wasn't exactly proud of the person he had been when he was younger. Some of the things he had done leaned a lot closer to questionable than he liked to think about. He knew that it was just him trying to survive, but doing what he did now…

That wasn't who he was any more though. He was SWAT officer. He was one of the protectors now. He didn't get to pick and choose who he protected or arrested. He followed the evidence and he did everything in his power to uphold the law to make the world a safer place.

The last thing he could do was randomly start swinging at people. He had to be better than the person everyone had expected him to grow up to be. He couldn't let himself be that person. He had to be better.

"You haven't told me your name yet," Baylon continued rocking forward once more, "We can't have a conversation, a real conversation, if we don't know each others name."

"We aren't having a conversation at all," Street stated hating how soft his voice sounded, "I'm placing you under arrest for murder. That is what is going to happen."

Baylon's head dipped forward as he shook it making it impossible to see his eyes. A ball of dread formed in the pit of his stomach at that. Street barely had time to figure out what was going on when the man rushed forward knocking the gun from his hands and him onto his back.

A grunt fell from him as the air was knocked from his lungs. He barely had enough time to block the hit coming for his head before another blow came down catching him on the side of his head right by his eye.

Ringing filled his head as the world went completely red. It took a second too long to figure out that blood was falling into his eye. Hit after hit slammed into his head knocking any kind of logical thinking away before it could even fully register.

The world seemed to slim down to a small dot as the pain of the hits echoed around him. The crack of a fist hitting his face. The ringing echo that filled his brain. The way his head snapped to the side over and over with every punch.

All of a sudden a vastly different feeling overtook him as fingers gently caressed the side of his face. Street felt himself flinch back from the touch only for the man above him to softly shush him while cupping the side of his face. A whimper that he wished he could hold back escaped him as the fingers pressed too roughly on his cheek.

"Oh little one," Baylon muttered his grip tightening harshly before pulling back and wiping away both tears and blood, "What have you done to yourself?"

It took all of Street's energy to force his eyes open at that. He was vaguely aware that he had been hurt fairly badly by the man, but he still wasn't expecting the pain the crashed over him as the hazily red figure above him came into focus.

Baylon smiled down at him almost lovingly his thumb running back and forth over a cut on his cheek. It was in that moment that the man vaguely reminded him of a parent attempting to soothe their child. Everything about that made him feel sickened.

An almost sad hum came from Baylon as his hand slid down Street's face wrapping around his throat. Weakly he reached up to try to stop the man as his fingers began to tighten and he put his full weight into pinning him to the floor.

Feeling the air being cut off from his lungs Street felt panicked. He had gone in knowing that Baylon and the situation was dangerous and he wasn't sure what had happened. It was as if the man had gotten into his head.

His head swam as his fingers wrapped around the murders wrists trying in vain to claw and push him away. Baylon simply continued to hum a tune as his grip tightened even more around his throat.

"Oh, it's far too late for that, dear," Baylon offered gently as he leaned down, "You've already done enough. It's okay now. You don't have to keep fighting."

Spots of black dotted his vision the fight slowly draining out of him as his hands fell to the floor. Everything in him wanted to keep fighting, but he felt so weak that he couldn't bring himself to move anymore.

All he could do was watch as the sound of his blood rushing through his veins overtook the murders voice. In that moment there was nothing other than Baylon and he was so sure that he was going to be the last thing he ever saw.

The whiskey brown eyes looked so peaceful and calm watching him; almost like embers of a fire. He couldn't help thinking that maybe that wouldn't be the worst thing on the planet. He knew that that thought should have scared him, but it didn't. If he was honest he wasn't sure what he was feeling. He did know that it wasn't close to being the first time he felt it though.

He wasn't afraid of death in any way. That fear had died at the hands of his father when he was a child. Every time he walked into the house he was sure that he was never going to walk out. He had felt that long before he had even truly understood what death was.

As he grew up he had used that to his advantage. So many people had tried to make him afraid of them and what they might do to him, but it never worked. There was never anything worse they could do that his father hadn't already done.

Before he realized what was going on air suddenly rushed back into his lungs causing him to roll over to the side as painful coughs racked through his body. Without thinking he tried to curl in on himself only for something to stop him.

Reaching up he tried to fight whatever it was that was keeping him from moving. His mind yelled at him saying that it was Baylon and that he needed to get away before the man took a hold of him again.

The grip was too strong though and he couldn't move. Not knowing what else he could do Street opened his eyes needing to see what was going on. Instead of Baylon holding him down he saw the man slumped on ground blood pooling around him.

Feeling the fight fall away once more he turned his head slightly and saw Tan staring down at him. An almost desperate looking smile came to his friends lips as he blinked back tears that were threatening to fall.

"They're almost here, Jim," Tan's words slowly filtered in, "Just hold on a little while long. Okay? The bus is almost here. Just a little while longer."

Reaching up with a shaky hand Street tried to place it on his friends face only for his hand to fall short. The smile slowly fell into a frown as Tan reached out himself to take hold of his hand almost painfully tight.

Feeling the last of his energy start to fad once more Street smiled up at Tan wanting nothing more than to assure him that everything was going to be fine even as the blackness continued to pull him under.

"No, Jim, stay awake," Tan started once more his voice sounding farther away than it had before, "Stay awake. Please."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is slowly starting to come together. I think. There are some vague ideas of what I want to happen in this story and hopefully we'll get there. Enjoy the ride in the mean time.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> If you want to be kept up to date with any upcoming stories or want to ask me to write a story for you please follow me on Facebook 'SilverMidnight52' or on Tumblr under SilverMidnightWrite! I own nothing.

Taking in a deep breath Street stared at the wall opposite of him trying his best not to notice how drab the painting looked. What was it about hospitals that always made everything in them look sad and off?

He was sure that it was actually a beautiful painting of a sunrise, or a sunset, he wasn't really sure which it was. Yet having spent the last few days looking at it he couldn't find anything beautiful in it. Even the colors had begun to blend into what he could only describe as mush.

"Good," Dr. Wells cut in sliding the somehow still icy stethoscope across his back, "And another."

Redirecting his eyes to look up at the ceiling he forced himself to take in what felt like his hundredth deep breath that day. He knew that all she was doing was trying to find out just how much damage had been done to his throat and lungs, but it was starting to get on his last nerve. Not that that was surprising. Everything was annoying him at the moment.

Like the fact that it was still difficult to breathe. It had only been two days since the whole incident with Baylon and he was very much aware that he wasn't in the best condition. Even if the man hadn't choked him he had gotten the shit kicked out of him well before that.

He knew that his doctor had spent a lot of time explaining to him exactly what it was that was currently wrong with him, but he was tired and just done enough that he didn't care. It wasn't as if he could do anything about it anyway. He was in the hospital. Everything was being done for him. If he had to keep the nasal tube in for any longer though he was going to scream. Precaution or not.

That sounded a lot whinier than he meant it to. That was something of a bad habit with him when he wasn't feeling well. Everything and everyone just got so damn annoying and he wanted to be left alone more than anything.

At the same time though he understood. If it had been anyone else he would have been right there too; being annoying. It wasn't anyone else though. It was him. He was the one that had gotten hurt and was in the hospital. He was the one that just wanted them all to stop.

Street loved the team with all of his heart and having them in his life was something he would always be grateful for. At the moment though he didn't need them constantly looking over him as if they thought he was going to break at any moment. All it did was make him think that he had missed something.

He hadn't though. He remembered in full detail exactly what had happened between him and Baylon in that warehouse. It was doubtful that he was ever going to be able to forget everything that that man had said and done.

He just couldn't understand what had happened. Under any other circumstance he wasn't the type of person that let people get under his skin like that. He had learned a long time ago that letting people see they had that type of power over you never ended well.

Somehow though Baylon had. It was almost as if he had seen right through him without even trying. One look and that man had basically seen to his very soul and, for some reason, Street had fallen hook, line, and sinker for everything he said.

"And one last deep breathe for me, Mr. Street," Dr. Wells instructed again causing him to close his eyes as his thoughts were once again interrupted.

That was the main reason he found himself so annoyed recently. All he wanted to do was stop and think and figure everything out. That was the last thing he could do though. Mostly because he hadn't been left alone since he woke up. Sure they tried to be sneaky about it, but he could tell that they were afraid to leave him alone. It made him wonder what it was that Tan had seen when he found him.

At the moment Luca and Hondo were hanging out with him as the doctor tried to figure out if he was well enough to go home. Which was all he was going to be able to do. Hell, he was going to have to carry around an inhaler for a time while he continued to heal up.

"Well, Mr. Street," Dr. Wells offered pulling the stethoscope away and moving to stand in front of him, "You're lungs are getting better. Slower than I'd hope for, but they are getting better."

"Does that mean that I get to go home?" Street offered hating how his voice sounded so rough and broken.

"I'd like to keep you a few more hours and repeats the tests. If you're still improving we'll sign you out. Anyway, it's almost lunch time. Do you remember the rules we went over for eating?"

"Foods that are easy to swallow. Nothing that involves too much chewing or is too rough. I remember."

"Good. I'll see you in a few hours."

Street forced himself to smile as she gathered her things and left. In that moment all he wanted to do was stand up and walk out of there. It wasn't as if there was anything they could actually do. The only thing that was happening now was his body healing itself. He didn't need to be in the hospital for that.

The only problem with that though was the fact that both Hondo and Luca there. Out of everyone on the team those two were the ones that he had the hardest time dealing with. Hondo was like a parental figure that he had no idea how to handle and Luca was… Luca. There was no chance of getting out of there without a huge fight.

Under any other circumstance he would be arguing up a storm to get out of the hospital. He'd do practically anything to be able to go home. He was so tired and no amount of sleep seemed to be helping. Although if he was being honest he hadn't actually been getting all that much sleep. Not that that was an uncommon occurrence.

All of his life sleep had been difficult to capture. It was something that he had actually grown used to. Some of his best ideas came when he was simply laying in bed waiting to either fall asleep or start the day. It was such a part of him that he truthfully quit even questioning it.

This was completely different than his normal inability to sleep though. Any other time he felt like he was in control. In his bed he was able to think about everything and anything he wanted. It was almost peaceful in a way that he had come to enjoy.

Ever since he woke up though it wasn't his own voice trying to talk through everything that happened. It was Baylon's voice that was in control. Pushing him in directions he didn't want to go. Asking questions he didn't want to ask.

As much as he didn't want to admit, even to himself, that anything was wrong it was really starting to get to him. The mans voice wouldn't go away no matter what he did. It felt as if he had completely taken over his thoughts.

Street was well aware that everything about that was worrying. Having someone like Baylon, a man that could manipulate people into murdering others, in his head could only end badly. A person like that should never be able to get to him.

That was actually a part of the reason he was ready to be out of the hospital and left alone. He couldn't let his mind wonder to Baylon and figure out what the hell had happened that night. He felt like he couldn't really do anything.

"Street!" Luca's voice suddenly broke through his mangled thoughts causing his head to jerk towards his friends.

Shutting his eyes tightly Street forced himself to swallow the bile that was in his throat as pain coursed through him. A voice in the back of his mind reminded him that he wasn't alone and that he was worrying his friends, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

Feeling something strong and solid rest on his shoulder the young man looked up and saw Hondo staring down at him. He could see his bosses lips moving, but the only thing he could hear was his blood rushing through his veins.

Before he could realize what was happening Luca took over his view. The mans hand took a hold of his own and placed it against his chest. A wave of something he didn't want to try to explain crashed over him as his friend took in a deep breath and held it for a moment before exhaling. It took longer than he liked to admit to understand he was trying to get Street to copy his breathing.

Nodding his head slowly Street let his eyes slip shut and follow his friends lead. Slowly the pain started to ebb away once more and breathing started to get easier again. The nasal canal that he had thought he'd gotten rid of was on his face once more and for the first time he felt relief for it.

The hands slowly let go of his before moving to his back to help him move so he was reclined on some pillows. It took everything in him not to react as they fully pulled away leaving him feeling cold.

Blinking a few times Street let his eye adjust once more before looking up at the other men. He wasn't exactly sure when it happened, but he noticed both Dr. Wells and one of the nurses slowly moving away from him.

A part of him wanted nothing more than to hide under his blankets at that. Any dream he had of going home later that day was dashed. After what just happened she was never going to sign off on him leaving the hospital.

"Jim?" Hondo questioned placing a hand on his shoulder, "You with us, kid?"

"Yeah," Street replied his voice breaking painfully, "Sorry. Moved too quickly."

"Are you currently in any pain, Mr. Street?" Dr. Wells asked moving closer to the bed.

"A little pain, but it's fading now."

"And your breathing? Have difficulty?"

"I- I guess."

Nodding her head Dr. Wells looked over the machines he was hooked up to turning to mutter something to the nurse. In that moment all Street wanted to do was curl up in a little ball and hide away from them all. He didn't have to guess what she was telling him and, though he knew he wasn't going to go home now, he didn't want to hear what she was about to say.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Street," she started smiling down at him, "I know you want to go home, but I don't feel comfortable signing off on that just yet. If you have no other problems tonight we'll try again tomorrow."

"Yeah," he croaked out trying to smile back, "Okay."

The room was completely silent as Dr. Wells headed out of the room leaving him with Hondo and Luca. He had been doing everything in his power to get the team to stop worrying about him, but as he sat there he knew he had failed. Hell, based off the looks he was getting they were even more worried than they had been before.

"Luca," Hondo started turning towards the blond, "Why don't you grab some lunch for us?"

Rolling his eyes to look up at the ceiling Street did his best to ignore the ball forming in the pit of his stomach. Of course Hondo was trying to get him alone to talk to him. He was the boss after all. That was what he did.

In truth it was probably something that he should be doing given everything that had happened. He needed to know where Street's head was at the moment. Even if he didn't know where it was himself.

All in all he just wished that this conversation had been put off for a little while longer. At least until after he had some time to think about it himself. Everything was just too raw and close to the surface. He needed some time.

That was the last thing he could say to Hondo though. Hell, he couldn't say it to anyone on the team. Not after everything that had happened before. They needed to know that he wasn't going off on his own and hiding like he had with his mother.

The problem with that was he wanted, needed, to be alone. He needed to think. He needed to understand what had happened. He needed Baylon out of his head so he could finally catch up on the sleep he needed.

Looking at Hondo he knew that was the last thing that was going to happen though. They were worried about him and that meant he wasn't going to be able to be alone until they decided that he was okay enough for that. It was a never ending cycle.

It was also something he doubted he would ever get used to. Having people that loved and cared about it just sounded wrong in his head for some reason. That didn't stop him from wanting them to never leave him.

In the end though it wasn't just someone that was talking to him. It was Hondo. As soon as he had met the older man he had known not to mess with him. Okay, so he was still actually afraid of him. He felt the same way about Deacon. The two of them were like no one he had ever met.

He doubted that anyone was surprised by that. The two of them were the parental adults in the team. The idea of disappointing them always loomed over him. Something that he had already done fairly spectacularly. He never wanted to do that again.

"What are you thinking, Street?" Hondo asked pulling one of the chairs over and sitting in front of him.

"Nothing," he replied too quickly before noticing that Luca wasn't there anymore, "I'm fine."

"Street."

"I'm fine."

A soft sigh fell from the older man and for a split moment Baylon was standing in front of him. There was so much disappointment and anger rolling over the man. He could practically feel the mans hands wrapping around his throat cutting off his air.

Without thinking he reached up running his fingers across the bruises on his throat hating how the shot of pain grounded him back down. Baylon was dead. He was with Hondo in the hospital. Everything was going to be fine.

Over and over that repeated in his head as he tried to force the images of the killer out. He could still hear the mans gentle tone as the loss of oxygen slowly started to take over. It was just so peaceful and wrong.

"Street?" Hondo called out leaning forward his elbows on his knees, "Talk to me."

"There's nothing to say," Street muttered not looking at the man, "I'm just tired."

"You haven't been sleeping okay?"

"About the same as always."

"Is that right?"

"Yeah."

"Because Dr. Wells has been talking to me about your progress. She's worried."

Street forced himself not to flinch at that. Of course he knew that Hondo and Dr. Wells were talking about him. Both Hondo and Hicks had full access to his medical files. Just like they had access to everyone else on the team.

Dr. Wells couldn't give out any real details on him, but there were a lot of things that she could say. Like the fact that he wasn't sleeping. Not that it was new information. It was something that Hondo knew. If he thought that he was sleeping even less though… Nothing good was going to happen.

"Jim," Hondo started once more, "What happened with Baylon?"

"He was a better fighter than me," Street offered his eyes dropping to his lap, "That's all."

"Is it?"

This time he couldn't stop from reacting as his whole body flinched. He knew that the older man could see through his lies. That he was just waiting for him to slip up. That was how he worked. He waited for the other to give him an opening before going in. It was smart. He hated it.

"What do you want from me, Hondo?" Street questioned softly just as Luca walked in with a plate in his hand.

"Alright," Luca said in lieu of greeting a large, fake grin on his lips, "Lunch anyone?"

Smiling slightly at Luca Street let the man ramble about the food he had gotten as he closed his eyes trying to calm his racing heart. He had no idea what Luca had heard but he doubted that it was going to stay that way for long. If there was one person that he couldn't deny it was Luca. He meant too much to him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm finally figuring out what this story is going to be about and honestly I can't wait until I can write it up!
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> If you want to be kept up to date with any upcoming stories or want to ask me to write a story for you please follow me on Facebook 'SilverMidnight52' or on Tumblr under SilverMidnightWrite! I own nothing.

Stretching his hands over his head Tan let out a low groan as he felt his spine pull and pop uncomfortably. It always surprised him how sore he felt after a night not being able to sleep. One would think that constantly fighting and being thrown into things would be worse, but no. It was tossing and turning that got him.

Although, maybe that had more to do with the fact that last night hadn't just been him feeling uncomfortable on a bed. There had also been sitting on hospital chairs that made him never want to sit again as well as moving around so much in bed that he eventually went into the living room so Bonnie could get some sleep herself.

Not that he actually believed she had. After everything that had happened the night before he wasn't sure at all what the woman was thinking. It was really the first time she had to deal with someone on the team being hurt badly. With the way she was moving too he doubted she had gotten any more rest than he had.

Something he felt more than a little guilty about that. When they started getting serious he had known that his work was going to affect them and he had hated it. He had sat down with her at the very beginning explaining to her that things weren't going to be easy if she wanted to be with him.

Not getting a full nights sleep. Wondering if she was going to be targeted because of him. Constantly worrying what condition he was going to come home in. Worrying _if_ he was going to come home at all. It was a lot to handle.

Bonnie had repeated that day, and continues to repeat, that she loved him and wasn't leaving, but he couldn't help wondering if maybe she'd be better off it she did. Being with someone that worked SWAT wasn't an easy thing to do.

Even as he thought all of that though he knew that he wasn't going to break up with her. Call him selfish but having her in his life made everything he had gone through and everything that was to come a lot less scary.

She had actually come to the hospital after he had called to explain why he he might not come home that night. He had told her that he was perfectly fine and that they were all just waiting for news on Street. After he hung up he had really thought that was the end of it. Then she walked into the waiting room along with Annie and some drinks for them all.

Feeling her lean against him offering silent support as they continued to wait was something he hadn't known he was missing. Not that either of them stayed all that much longer at that hospital. Or, should he say, until he was forced to leave the hospital.

He had no idea what was going on when Annie sat next to Bonnie and started talking so low he couldn't hear them. It wasn't long after that she was pulling him to his feet practically pulling him out and forcing him to leave for the night.

At the time he had tried to fight to stay at least until they had some news. He needed to know that his friend was okay before he could leave and find any kind of peace or sleep or any real thought. He needed to know that he hadn't been too late.

He had wanted to put up more of a fight to stay, but in truth he had been so tired. Every atom in his body felt like it was trying to vibrate out of his body. The fact that Bonnie had taken charge and pointed him in a direction helped.

Now that it was the morning he found himself wishing that he had stayed. Even with the knowledge that Street was resting in his room and that they had been kicked out without seeing him he felt as if he had abandoned the younger man.

It wasn't often that anyone on the team had to spend longer than a single night in the hospital. He had never met a group of people that hated visiting hospital as much as the team. Nothing about that was shocking though. Of course they didn't like going to the hospital.

Most of it stemmed from how often they ended up needing to see a doctor. None of them got small injuries. They weren't always horrible, but they were never small. In the end, no matter what the injury they were told to 'take it easy'. Something that annoyed all of them.

That wasn't what was going on with Street though. It wasn't something that the younger man could walk away from after a single night. At least he didn't think so. Outside of what he had seen that day he wasn't exactly sure what was happening with Street at all.

Not that he had to guess too hard on what kind of damage had been done. He had seen what could happen to people that got choked like that. He knew just how easy it would have been for Baylon to kill Street if he hadn't come in. It wasn't hard to imagine at all.

If he was being, he was imagining a lot more than that. There were a lot of things running through his head at the moment pertaining to Street. Most of which he knew weren't going to be a problem.

It wasn't often that Tan found himself over-reacting or imagining things that he knew weren't going to be a problem. He was a realist. Something that helped more often than not when it came to doing his job. Being able to focus on what was happening at the moment was exactly what they all needed when they were in dangerous situations.

He couldn't help this time. His mind was racing without common sense being worked in. Under normal circumstances he could simply wait for answers about what happened. At the moment he felt as if he had to guess that things were going to work out.

It felt like there was an itch under his skin that he just couldn't get rid of no matter what he did. In the back of his mind he knew though that his worry had nothing to do with the fact that Street was hurt and in the hospital. At least it didn't _fully_ have something to do with that.

They got hurt a lot. Every single person on the team had gotten hurt badly at one point or another. He had seen every one of them in a situation where they were bleeding from somewhere or knocked out or had a broken bone. It was nothing new.

In the end what he had seen that night hadn't been the worst injury someone on the team had gotten. It hadn't been close to being a small injury, but he was completely positive that Street would only be in the hospital for a few days before he was fine.

He couldn't say that the image of Street on the ground was helping though. The way the blood slowly worked its way down his face and into his eyes. The fact that the only thing stopping his head from rolling to the side was Baylon's hands. The way his hands fell away from Baylon's wrists. The way he stared up as if perfectly entranced.

Everything about what he had seen that night was wrong and he couldn't get it out of his head. Every time he closed his eyes it's all he saw. Over and over he saw Street laying on the floor, covered in his own blood. Dying.

He had spent most of the night tossing and turning only to jerk awake a moment later. In all, he had gotten maybe an hour of sleep in total. He knew that he wasn't even close to being able to function, but he couldn't stay home any longer. Even if he had gotten to the office almost two hours early.

Something that had been happening a lot recently. The whole case that had started all of it had been difficult to say the least. It was almost as if every little thing that happened pulled them in a different direction that they hadn't seen coming. He still wasn't sure how they connected the evidence in the end, but he was glad they did.

In the beginning of most cases it wasn't as if they had any answers to anything, but they could normally find a place to begin easily enough. All it took was a little investigating and that was what they did after all.

Baylon and Keller though… They had made the case harder than most. Everyone that was involved in the case was so spread out that connecting the crimes together had been damn near impossible. It had taken a lot longer than he liked to think about to start putting things together. Not to mention the fact everyone on the team had worked around the clock figuring out what was happening.

And still there were so many questions that they didn't have any answers to. Yes, they knew that they only had two people to catch. At least that was until last night. Now they only had one person to catch and for some reason that scared him more than it had before.

He still wasn't exactly sure exactly how they had run into Eliot Baylon. He knew that he and Street had been sent to question an ex of Keller's to try to get some information about the man, but none of them had expected much to come from it. Like everything else on the case.

They had barely started questioning the woman when everything went to shit. Tan had been mid question when Street elbowed him lightly and motioned further into the office. He had just barely caught a glimpse when the man had opened fire on the room.

After that there had been no time to think. It was clear that Baylon was not only trying to harm as many as possible but trying to cause as much chaos as well. Something that he had done in a spectacular way.

When Street had gone after Baylon Tan hadn't thought much about it. He couldn't think about it. There were people hurt and panicking. They needed him there to help them figure out what was going on. It was something that he would never forgive himself for.

A part of him was fully aware that he couldn't have known what was going to happen. That the main thing that made their team work was the fact that they all trusted each other to know what they were doing.

Street was good at doing what he did. In truth, the kid was impressive. There was also the fact that out of the little evidence they had getting close to Baylon while alone shouldn't have been dangerous. Anyway, it wasn't as if he let him be alone for long. As soon as he could he had followed.

As he ran into the building he had known that something was wrong. If things had gone as they normally do than Street and Baylon would have been talking or the younger man would have been escorting the murderer out in cuffs. None of that happened though.

Instead the closer he got the more that sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach seemed to grow. For a moment he almost could convince himself that he was in the wrong place. At least that's what he had wanted to believe. Then he had walked in.

"Morning, Tan," Deacon smiled down at him as he walked up before it slowly fell away, "I'm guessing you didn't sleep well?"

"No," he shook his head fighting through a yawn, "I really didn't."

"I didn't either. I spent most of the night texting Hondo checking up on Street."

"Yeah? Is there any new news? Do the doctors know anything?"

A sigh fell from Deacon as he dropped his bag to the floor and sat next to him. For a moment he was completely silent. A part of Tan wanted to demand that the older man just tell him what had happened. Even if it was bad he wanted to get it over with.

He was completely aware that over reacting at that. It wasn't as if Street was only his friend. All of them were on edge attempting to figure out what was going on. It wouldn't help anyone if they were at each others throats for no reason.

Anyway, he had known that Hondo wasn't going to call or text him. The older man had said as much when he and Bonnie left. He wasn't sure exactly what he had looked like when they all got to the hospital, but based off the reactions of everyone he doubted that it was good.

"They're a little worried," Deacon responded with a shake of his head, "Basically he has cracked a few of his ribs, a deep cut on the side of his face, a lot of bruising on his side, and a concussion. All of which is not counting how much damage was done to his throat. You know how dangerous it is when you get choked."

"He didn't look…" Tan tried to start only to stop as he pulled his wrappings slightly too tight, "It looked bad."

"That's what the doctors said. For the most part it's just his throat that they're worried about right now. Though the cracked ribs aren't helping his breathing."

Nodding his head Tan forced himself not to react. It wasn't nearly as bad as he had thought it would be, but it still felt like a punch in the gut. Everything reminded him that he should never have let his friend run off alone.

Feeling like he was going to scream if he didn't move Tan stood up and made his way to the punching bag. He had learned early on that one of the best things he could do when he was feeling so frustrated was to let himself deal with it head on. He couldn't hide from it.

Still, as he threw the first punch he found himself getting angrier than he had been before. All night long all he had felt as if he was going to go insane. The anger and frustration and need to move was right at the front of his mind the entire time. It was one of the worst feelings ever.

"Tan, it's not your fault that this happened," Deacon offered walking up to him and crossing his arms over his chest, "There were injured people that you had to take care of. That was your job first and foremost. You had no idea this way going to happen. We didn't know Baylon was so dangerous."

"We didn't know anything about Baylon at all," Tan grunted out quickly throwing a few more punches, "We don't know anything about Keller either. Who is still out there!"

Pushing away from the bag Tan spun around and forced himself away before he fully lost his temper. He did everything in his power to keep the darker part of him under control, but at the moment it felt too close to the surface for his comfort. He wanted nothing more than to keep calm.

Except every time he closed his eyes he saw Street' body laying on the ground looking as if he was completely ready to die. He never wanted someone he cared about to look as if they were perfectly okay dying.

"Tan," Deacon sighed staring at him.

"He looked…" he muttered shaking his head as he turned to face the older man, "You didn't see him, Deacon. He looked like he was giving up the fight."

"What? That doesn't sound like Street at all."

"When I walked into the warehouse Baylon was straddling Street and for a moment he had his hands wrapped around Baylon's wrists. It looked like he was trying to fight back, but then his hands fell to the ground and he was just staring up at Baylon. It was as if he was completely enthralled. I don't know how to explain it."

"Enthralled? Isn't that how some of the other people we arrested said? That talking to them was almost like a sirens call?"

Tan couldn't help stopping completely at that. He hadn't interviewed any other the others, but now that he was thinking about it that was how they talked about both Baylon and Keller. They had actually thought they were trying to build something akin to a cult.

"You're right," Tan sighed crossing his arms over his chest, "That does explain a few things. Street fights back. We both know that. Him laying on the ground after someone beats on him? That's not him."

"Unless someone had gotten into his head," Deacon replied softly, "You think Baylon could have done that to Street?"

"I don't know. I really don't know. I just know that he wouldn't give up a fight unless there was an outside force."

Nodding his head Deacon looked up at the ceiling before shaking his head as if to push away his thoughts. There was a little part of him that had wanted nothing more than for the man to tell him that he was over-reacting about all of it. That he just needed a little sleep.

"It does make sense with everything that we know about Baylon," Deacon interrupted his thoughts a moment later, "Okay, we don't know what went on with them, but I'm going to call Hondo and tell him to watch Street just in case."

"I hope you're right, Deacon."

"So do I. We'll figure this out though. You know we will."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like diving into Street's mind after everything I had him go through in the first chapter. I hope you enjoy what I'm doing!
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> If you want to be kept up to date with any upcoming stories or want to ask me to write a story for you please follow me on Facebook 'SilverMidnight52' or on Tumblr under SilverMidnightWrite! I own nothing.

A raspy breath escaped Street as he stumbled to a stop for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Clenching his eyes shut he pushed back the panic that tried to take over as the nausea and dizziness he had been fighting tried to pull him under. He wasn't that far from the house. He just had to make it a few more blocks.

When he had decided to give Duke a walk that morning he hadn't thought much about it. Going to the park with the dog was one of his favorite things to do when he had days off. It gave him time to enjoy the city and decompress from everything that had happened at work. Not to mention Duke loved it too. He should have realized that wasn't going to happen this time though.

With everything that had happened he had just wanted a little bit of normalcy. Anyway, it wasn't as if walking was hard to do and it was a fairly nice day. It made perfect sense to walk around for a little bit and try to get his head on straight.

At least that's what he had convinced himself of as Luca left the house to head into work. It would have been his plan under any other circumstance. He was at home with nothing to do so he was going to start the day with a nice walk. Nothing about what was happening with himself was normal though. Something that he was admitting to a little too late.

When he had left the house he had felt fine. Alright, so his chest was killing him and his head still ached and moving his neck in either direction sent a sharp pain through his entire body that made him want to scream, but he could handle all of it. It wasn't the first time he got hurt and it wouldn't be the last.

Now he could admit that he had been an idiot. He felt so shaky and weak as he reached his free hand out placing it on a tree hoping that he had enough strength to keep himself upright for a little while longer.

It was odd, but for as much as he hated being in the hospital he almost wished that Dr. Wells had decided to keep him a little while longer. If only so he could actually start feeling like he was in his own body again instead of trying to move whatever mess he was in at the moment.

In truth, when he had woken up yesterday morning he had been sure that he wasn't going to be released at all. At the time he had to hold back a groan at the very idea of spending even a few more hours there. He had wanted nothing more than to go home and move on with his life.

It wasn't as if there was really anything else that could be done. Even Dr. Wells admitted to that. The only thing that was left was waiting around for his body to heal and he could do that anywhere he wanted. He had practically jumped for joy at the chance of going home.

At the time it had seemed as if he had made the right choice. The idea of being at home, in his own bed, with his own food, was just too perfect to pass up. Anyway, it wasn't as if it was a secret that being at home was better for healing than being in the hospital. There had been many studies done that proved just that. And he had felt that. On the trip home from the hospital.

Luca had picked him up around eight in the evening after he had gone through even more tests and gotten some food in his stomach. Then all he had to do was fill out some paperwork and leave. He even had a few days before he had to go back for a checkup. It was a little embarrassing how excited he was by all of that.

The drive home had been exactly how they normally went when they drove together as well. Luca in the drivers seat trying his hardest to sing with whatever song popped up on the radio not caring if he knew the lyrics or not. As always it brought a smile to his lips.

He couldn't say how long the drive from the hospital to their place was but he knew that it was the best he had felt in the last few days. For a moment he was sure that things were going to get back on track for him. That being in a familiar place was the thing he needed to finally be able to get out of his own head.

Now that he thought about it he knew just how childish those thoughts were, but he had been hopeful. He just wanted things to be okay. To have the team stop looking at him like he was going to fall apart at any moment.

Then he said goodnight to Luca and went into his room to sleep for the night. Everything seemed to fall apart as the door closed. Not feeling the older mans eyes on him made him realize just how fake he was being.

So he figured that maybe he just needed to get a little sleep. Sure it was fairly early for him, but after everything that had happened and the fact that he hadn't been sleeping well he figured that he was allowed to go to bed whenever he wanted.

He should have known that it wasn't going to work out that well. He was slower than normal stripping out of his clothes and climbing into bed, but he knew that as soon as his head hit the pillow he was finally going to be able to catch up on sleep.

Then a minute passed. Five minutes. Half hour. Full hour. All too soon the sun was streaming into his bedroom and his head felt like it was filled with cotton. He was sure that he dozed off at some point, but he felt more tired than he had before.

In fact, he felt a lot worse than he had when he was in the hospital. Something that he was fully aware made no sense. Nothing about what he was feeling or thinking made any sense lately though. It was like a grab bag of emotions and none of them seemed to fit with what was actually happening.

That had been why he wanted to give Duke a walk. It was the easiest and most normal thing he could do at the moment. Except he was finding out the hard way that he couldn't in fact do it. He and Duke had barely gotten halfway to the park when he found himself having to turn back around.

"Don't look at me like that," Street muttered hating how Duke was staring up at him, "I just need a minute."

It was the first day that he was out of the hospital he wasn't going to let a walk send him back. There were only a few more blocks before he was home. He could do that. All he had to do was breathe a little, relax, and take one step at a time.

Beside him Duke let out a soft whimper his nose nudging against Street's hand drawing him out of his thoughts. With a shaky smile he nodded his head and pushed off the tree getting ready to start on his walk once more knowing there was nothing else he could do.

For the first time since Luca got the call to come in Street found himself wishing that things had gone differently. That his friend had stayed with him for a little while longer. Maybe he wouldn't feel as lost as he did.

Except Luca had a job to do and there was no chance that the man was going to pass up on that because of him. Hell, he would hate if any of the members of the team picked him over the job. That wasn't who they were or what they did.

A part of him couldn't believe how excited he had been when he heard Luca's truck pulling away. It was his chance to stop and think. For the world to fade away for just a moment. One small moment. That was all he had wanted or what he had though he had wanted.

Reaching up Street placed a hand on his chest wincing as he pressed a little too hard. It felt as if his heart was trying to escape and he had no control over it. Every step made it harder to breathe. At the same time though he knew he couldn't stop walking just yet.

Shaking his head slowly Street reached out leaning fully against a tree before slowly slipping down so he was sitting on the ground. Duke sat next to him his head resting on his lap as a whine came from him.

"I'm okay," he repeated letting his eyes fall shut, "I just need a minute. I'm okay."

Curling his hand in the dogs fur he leaned forward almost curling in on himself only to gasp painfully and sit back up practically hitting his head against the tree painfully. He didn't bother trying to fight back the tears that were filling his eyes. The pain raked through his entire body and for a moment he felt like he was back in the warehouse.

Panic filled him as he felt a hand wrap tightly around his throat cutting off his air. Reaching up he tried to grab a hold of it, but there was nothing there. The only fingers that were touching his neck were his own though they felt so disconnected.

A loud bark jerked him out of his thoughts before he could fall any further. Everything around him slowly started to filter back and the warehouse fell away. Covering his mouth with his hand Street forced himself to breathe as calmly as he could through his nose.

Around him everything looked so normal and familiar. He had walked there so many times before that he knew exactly where he was. There was nothing for him to be afraid of. Yet he felt like someone was standing right over him.

Not knowing what else to do Street practically scrambled to his feet and started home once more. His chest felt tight and his lungs were on fire but he couldn't stop. The only thing that mattered to him was getting some place safe and away from the eyes.

It wasn't long before he was throwing open the door to the house almost running inside. His hands moved on autopilot as he locked everything he could before falling onto the ground and crawling until his back hit a wall.

Everything around him felt like it was spinning and for a moment he could have sworn he heard a scarily familiar voice whispering into his ear, telling him to calm down. It sounded so close and so real.

Gasping loudly he slammed his head back against the wall almost reviling in the pain that echoed through him drowning out the voice. For a moment all he could hear was his blood rushing in his ears. Then a whimper came from beside him.

Slowly opening his eyes he turned his head and saw Duke staring at him looking more fearful than a dog had any right to. Reaching out he wrapped his arms around the dog burying his face into the fur as a sob escaped him.

"I'm sorry," he muttered pulling away his fingers gently scratching the dogs neck, "I'm sorry, Duke. I don't…"

Street let his sentence trail off as words failed him. He had no idea what had come over him. It was like he was back in the warehouse and everything in him just wanted to run away and never look back.

Looking back down he found Duke staring up his gaze unwavering before moving so his head was resting on his thigh. Reaching out Street placed his hand on the dogs head before resting his head on top of it. For a moment the two of them sat there as he attempted to regain control over himself.

"I feel like an idiot," Street sighed sitting up fully, "Nothing was wrong with me. I just needed to calm down. Instead I panicked."

Pulling his hands away he undid Duke's leash letting it fall to the floor. A soft laugh fell from him as the dog tried to move closer once more. Placing a quick kiss to the top of his head Street stood up and made his way over to the couch. As soon as he was sitting Duke was there curled up on his lap.

"Baylon," Street continued petting the dog gently, "I don't know what happened with him, but it was almost like he could see through me. Everything he said hit so close to home that it felt like I couldn't think. Everything about him threw me through a loop and now it feels like everything is off. That I'm wrong in some way I can't figure out. They can see it though. The team. Everyone is acting as if I'm about to fall apart or… It's like they don't see me anymore. I'm not sure I see me anymore. Or if Baylon…"

As much as he didn't want to admit it, even to himself, there were points in time when he could hear Baylon's voice. It was almost like he was standing right behind him trying to get him to listen to what he was saying. Almost like he did at the warehouse.

It had only happened a handful of times so far, but it terrified him every single one. The man was a murderer. He had tried to kill Street himself. He shouldn't hold any kind of power over him at all. Yet Street couldn't stop thinking about him.

"You know what I didn't understand?" he questioned watching as the room grew darker as clouds covered the sun, "I've been yelled at more times than I can count. Never has someone sounded peaceful when they were being violent. It was as if he was trying to lull me to sleep."

Blinking a few times Street looked back down at Duke and sighed. It felt nice to have someone paying attention to him after feeling as if he couldn't talk at all. It was something else to be able to speak without being worried about what he was saying.

If he stopped to think about it he knew that he had never felt that way. In his mind he always believed that he had to keep what he was thinking to himself. The last thing he needed was for someone to use his thoughts against him.

That was part of the reason why he hid his thoughts away sometimes. Even from himself. In his mind there was no point in trying to think about things that he knew he wasn't going to be able to face in any big way. There rarely came a point where he had to face them.

"I think… I think I was lulled a little," he admitted softly hating how shaky he sounded, "My training was yelling at me to fight, but I couldn't… It was… I cared about what he was saying. I didn't want to care. I told myself over and over not to care, but I did. I cared about what he thought about me. He was a murderer that was actively trying to kill me and I cared what he thought."

Even as he thought that though he knew that it wasn't the full truth. It wasn't just that he cared what was being said. It was him being confused by everything that was being said. Nothing that was said made any sense to him.

"Why did what he said matter?" Street asked softly, "Why do I care? I don't get it. I don't know why he's effecting me like this. No one has ever been able to get to me like this before. Especially not some random perp. I don't know why I can't forget him."

Forcing himself to take a deep breath Street slowly closed his eyes letting the image of Baylon appear in front of him once more. A shiver of fear ran down his spine as the man smiled calmly down at him as he dropped down to his knees. He looked so at peace. Like he was standing exactly where he was meant to be.

"And what is your name?" Baylon questioned his head cocking to the side slightly.

Without thinking Street opened his eyes forcing the image away. Having the mans voice in his head was too much. He couldn't let himself fall for giving Baylon more time in his head. Nothing good would come from that. All he could do was work with what happened in the warehouse that day.

He could remember very clearly the man continually asking him what his name was. It was as if he had tried to build a relationship with him. A trick that they were taught to use when they thought that someone could be pulled back from the edge.

"He wanted to talk to me," Street started looking down at Duke, "It was like he was trying to be my friend. To pull me to him. Is that what he did with James Keller? Is that how he was able to convince the man to join him? I have to find him. I have to know what Baylon was playing at. I need to know."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It seems that there's a bit of a miscommunication problem between everyone. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> If you want to be kept up to date with any upcoming stories or want to ask me to write a story for you please follow me on Facebook 'SilverMidnight52' or on Tumblr under SilverMidnightWrite! I own nothing.

Flipping the channel once more Luca did his best not to glance at his friend for what felt like the hundredth time since he sat down. When he had left work he had been stopped by not only Hondo but Deacon and Tan too asking him to keep an eye on his roommate.

At first he had wanted to blow them off. What did they think he was doing anyway? No one had a near-death experience like Street did and came out the other side without needing some time. Of course he was going to watch to make sure the man knew that everything was going to be okay and that all of them were there if he needed them.

As soon as he looked really looked at them though he saw how truly worried all of them were. It felt as if they knew something that they weren't sharing with him. Something that annoyed him to no end. Those weren't the type of secrets people should keep.

At the same time, he understood. If they told him what they were thinking and those thoughts had no merit or evidence than things were just going to end up worse. They needed someone to be a neutral third party. That was him.

So he had promised them that he would watch out for Street and tell them if something was going on with him. Even though in the back of his mind he thought they were just worrying for no reason at all. At least he had thought he was sure.

He had only been home from work for a little over an hour and he knew that something bad had happened while he was gone. It was clear in everything that Street did that he wasn't feeling okay, but Luca had no idea how he was supposed to start a conversation.

When he had walked in the door his friend had been curled up on the couch with a blanket laying over him, Duke laying over his legs, and a laptop in his lap. He had greeted him, but his eyes never left the screen.

That could have been dismissed as him feeling a way about not being able to work. Something that he was sure he'd feel if he was in Street's shoes. It sucked having to sit around doing nothing while the team continued without you. Something in him said that wasn't what was going on though.

After quickly changing into some lounge wear he joined his friend on the couch and turned on the TV. Any other time the younger man would have an opinion on what was playing. This time he kept typing away on his laptop as if Luca wasn't even there.

He was so focused on whatever he was doing. The only time he was ever that focused was when they were working a case, but he knew that wasn't what was going on. He didn't have access to their cases on his personal laptop. None of them did. There were too many risks for that to be a thing.

So he sat there waiting for Street to say anything to him or to Duke. Hell, he'd even take him muttering under his breath at that point. The only sound that came from that direction though was the tapping of keys on a keyboard.

Okay, so that wasn't really unusual for the younger man. Street wasn't really a loud or talkative person when he didn't have to be. In truth, the younger man was one of the quietest people that he had ever met. At least, he was the second time around of them living together.

The first few nights he had really been afraid that the man was scared of upsetting him or of being kicked out. It was almost as if he was afraid of him. Something that had hurt him a lot more than he though. No, that was a lie. It hurt him exactly as much as it should have.

Luca was fully aware that he had gone a little overboard with how he treated Street. They had been not only teammates, but best friends. And he had treated the younger man as if he was something on the bottom of his shoe.

At the time he had felt as if he'd been betrayed by Street. Being on SWAT meant something. It wasn't just a team. It was a family. One that was there for any and everything. You couldn't just walk away from that as if it meant nothing. That's exactly what it had felt like the man had done.

All of his life he had been raised with the idea of a strong family. Both inside and out of SWAT they had been a family unit and fully believed that they were a family. It had even been like that when he was a kid and his dad was on the team. That's one of the reasons he joined in the first place.

He loved being a part of a family more than anything. Of having a group of people that were by his side through thick and thin. People that he never had to doubt or question. That was why they worked as well as they did on the field. They had complete faith in the team to have their backs so they didn't have to worry or second guess their safety.

He wasn't delusional enough to believe that everyone thought of family the same as he did. He knew that a lot of people didn't have that kind of structure in their life like he did. Some people didn't have any kind of structure in their life.

At the same time though he knew Street. He had seen the younger man grow as a person and watched him start to open up to them. He had seen the longing and the love that he felt. He had watched everyone on the team open their arms to him.

Street wasn't the type of person to just walk away from those he cared about without a second thought. That wasn't him. He was damn near sure it would take literal death to make him leave and even than a ghost Street might be floating around watching over them all.

In the back of his mind he knew that it wasn't out of nowhere or for nothing. It wasn't as if he had meet a random person on the street and decided to run away with them. It was his mother. It was the only family he thought he had left. Of course he picked her.

Sometimes though Luca found himself wishing that they had the relationship they had now. The one where even saying some hard truths didn't mean losing the person. It just meant that they truly loved you.

He wasn't exactly sure what he would say to the younger man about his mother, but he would have tried. He would have tried anything to get him to stop and think for a moment. To see what was obvious to everyone else.

Maybe it wouldn't have changed anything. No, it definitely wouldn't have changed anything, but trying was better than nothing. He would never be able to forgive himself for not stepping up when his friend needed him.

Not that any of that really mattered anymore. That part was over and done with. They had moved passed it and were friends again. If he was honest he was pretty sure their friendship was a lot stronger than it had been before.

Which was why he wasn't really surprised that Street was quiet. That was just who he was. Although usually not as quiet as eh was currently being. Maybe he was being quiet because he was still hurting and he didn't want Luca to worry. Or because he was tired. Either could be true.

Except there was something deep in him that he had learned to listen to a long time ago screaming that something else was going on. It wouldn't have matter how loud or quiet his friend was being. There was something wrong.

At the moment he kind of wanted to curse at his friends for not giving him more to go on than 'watch Street closely'. What was it exactly that they were worried about? What had happened to him physically or that something had happened mentally that they didn't know of?

Now that he was actually looking at Street though he knew they were leaning more towards the latter than the former. Seeing him practically curled in on himself was wrong. He just didn't know what enough to feel like he could do anything. The man in front of him just didn't look like his friend.

"Street," Luca started his eyes flicking between the TV and his friend while fiddling with the remote, "What are you doing over there?"

He had been fully expecting to hear Street stutter out an excuse or slam the laptop shut so he couldn't see what was going on. Hell, he had already figured out that he was going to make a joke about watching porn in the living room.

That wasn't what happened though. Instead the younger man acting as if he hadn't heard him at all. Given the fact that his eyes didn't even leave the screen he wouldn't be surprised if the man hadn't heard a single word he had said. Leaning back he quickly confirmed that there were no earbuds in his ears.

It was obvious that Street was completely wrapped up in what he was doing. Under any other circumstance Luca would probably go back to watching whatever was on and leave the man to focus on it.

Nothing about this was normal though. If the others were right than the last thing Street should be doing was getting stuck in his own head. That was always a slippery slope when fighting with ones own thoughts.

At the same time though maybe it was what he needed. He could remember just how difficult it was for him to work through some of the things that happened on the job. Especially something like what happened with Baylon. Whatever it was that had actually happened with him.

It's completely possible that that's what Street was doing. Typing out what had happened and going over it in his mind trying to piece together what it was that he was feeling. It was a fairly healthy way of facing things and it wasn't as if he really had any time to do that when he was in the hospital.

All of that was speculation though. Luca had no idea what his friend was doing. Whether it was helping or hindering him in someway. That seemed to be the theme of the day though. Confused and maybe even a little scared.

"Street," he called out a little louder needing to get the rock out of the pit of his stomach.

Luca couldn't help flinching as he watched his friend practically jumped out of his skin. For a split moment there was pure fear in the mans eyes and he knew that he would have pulled his gun if he had it on him.

That look told him all that he needed to know. Whatever it was that Street was doing he wasn't doing to help himself. At least, he wasn't… He wasn't going about it for the right reason, All he was going to do was get himself, and possibly someone else, hurt. Badly.

"Hey, it's just me," Luca offered holding his hands up a weak smile tugging on his lips.

For a moment Street just stared at him as if he had no idea what was going on. Blinking his eyes slowly they seemed to come back in focus as he took in Luca's face. That look sent a shiver down his spine as concern jolted through him.

"What?" Street asked his voice soft and gravely enough to make them both wince.

"Are you okay?" he asked even though he knew he wasn't going to get a truthful answer.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Sorry. Must have gotten lost in thought. What's up?"

"Just wondering what has you all wrapped up. You've barely looked away from your laptop since I got home and it's almost dinner. I know you have to be careful with what you eat right now, but you're usually starving around this time."

"Oh. Right."

Without saying another word Street focused back on his laptop. It was almost as if everything that he had said had fled from his mind as soon as he was done talking. Feeling the knot in his stomach tighten Luca reached out and tugged the device out of his friends hands.

"Street," Luca muttered watching as the younger man stared at his now empty lap, "What's really going on with you?"

"I…" Street started before clearing his throat, "Yeah. Sorry. A little lost in thought. I'm fine."

"That wasn't what I asked."

"It wasn't? What did you ask?"

"I asked what was going on with you. You're not acting like yourself."

"I was just trying to read. Between my head aching and the meds the doctor has been on I having a hard time concentrating. That's all. Really, Luca, I'm fine."

"Your head still bothering you? I thought you said it was getting better when you left the hospital?"

"I did. It's just a little. Probably from pushing myself to stay awake instead of napping today. You know I'm not a huge fan of napping unless I have to. I guess I shouldn't have pushed it today. It's not a big deal. I should be fine in the morning."

Hearing the younger man explain away what was going on Luca almost wanted to believe him. It sounded completely possible. Head injuries and medication had a tendency to throw everything out of wack. Street could easily just be feeling the affects of that.

Except the longer Street talked the more he was sure that wasn't what was going on. At least not fully. Underneath everything there was this tone that he couldn't identify, but one that he knew he couldn't let go.

At that moment there were so many things that he wanted to ask, but none of the words wanted to form on his tongue. He didn't have nearly enough information to get into a real and deep conversation with his friend. Especially a conversation that would help.

"Jim," he tried to start his brain kicking into overdrive trying to find something to say.

"What are you watching?" Street asked turning away from him.

"No."

Grabbing the remote Luca turned the TV off and moved so he was facing his friend. The two of them sat there in silence both waiting for the other to say something. At least, he was waiting for Street to say something. Anything. Hell. He'd take anger or his friend blowing him off. Anything to have the man show any kind of emotion.

Instead Street simply turned to look at him. Staring at him in a way that made it seem as if he seeing right through him. Letting out a soft sigh Luca forced himself to take a deep breath trying to prepare himself for what was about to come.

"Talk to me, Street," Luca said his voice lowering without thought.

"Don't take that tone with me," Street muttered lowly, "I fucking hate that tone."

For the first time that day he could identify the emotion in his friends voice. It was anger, but he could still almost sob in happiness. It didn't matter to him that it was only for a moment. All that mattered was that Street sounded like Street.

"What tone?" he asked confused.

"The victim tone," Street rolled his eyes before glaring at the floor.

Nodding his head slowly Luca took another deep breath before clearing his throat. He hadn't meant to take that tone, but, in his defense, that was exactly how Street seemed to him. It felt like he needed to protect the man from whatever he was feeling.

"Sorry, Street offered a crooked smile coming to his lips, "I just… I just hate that tone."

"Okay," Luca nodded his head, "Fair enough. I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was doing it. I'm still worried about you, man."

"Dr. Wells thinks that-"

"Not physically, Street. I know that you're getting better. That's not what I'm worried about."

"Luca."

"You're not acting like yourself and you know it."

Street stared at him for a moment and Luca felt his heart drop. The anger that had been there just a moment before seemed to fade away before his eyes as his friend practically curled in on himself. Everything in him was screaming at him to gather his friend in his arms or touch him in some way. Except he knew that doing that would only cause the man to leave all the quicker.

"Jim, what's going on with you?" Luca tried once more feeling more than a little desperate.

"I'm just tired," Street replied repeating what he had said before, "That's all."

"Jim."

"I…"

Hearing the younger man stutter slightly he couldn't help shaking his head. The man couldn't even say a full sentence without it falling apart. It was almost as if his thoughts were pulling him in more than one direction.

"There's nothing really wrong," Street repeated picking up his laptop, "I just have a lot on my mind."

"Like Baylon?" Luca asked wondering if he was opening the flood gates.

"I haven't really thought about Baylon. I haven't had the time. I know you're worried, Luca, but I really am fine. Just a little tired. In fact, I think I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight, Luca."

"Night, Street."

Hearing Street's bedroom door shut tightly he let his head drop back on the couch. After taking a few minutes to calm himself down Luca reached for his phone and sent a message to Tan demanding more information. He couldn't help if he had no idea what he was doing.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh dear. It seems as if things are starting to to get a little more angst-y in this story.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> If you want to be kept up to date with any upcoming stories or want to ask me to write a story for you please follow me on Facebook 'SilverMidnight52' or on Tumblr under SilverMidnightWrite! I own nothing.

Hitting the final key on his laptop Street started to drum his fingers against his knee as his eyes skimmed over what he had just written. The words seemed to almost bleed together, but nothing had a red line underneath it so he was going to count it as a win.

When he had first started the project he had figured it was going to take a long time trying to remember everything about the case they were working on. There was almost too much information on just Baylon and Keller themselves that he had to type up.

Though at the same time it felt as if there was nothing on them either. Every scrape of evidence they had on the men was more speculation than anything else. No one knew anything about either of them. Something that probably worked to their advantage.

It was clear that they had done everything in their power to keep up whatever facades they had convinced everyone to see. That had to be what was going on with them. There was no way that two such 'normal' people had just suddenly decided to start killing people or convincing people to kill or whatever it was that they did. Especially since it took them so long before anyone's eyes even looked over at them.

That had been why he had tried to remember everything about every single case that had come up during their investigation. It had made perfect sense at the time. He was sure that finding out who the two men truly were behind the mask was the only way that they would be able to find out where Keller was and how he was reacting. There was just one problem. Or seventeen different problems.

It still surprised him just how many cases there were. Especially since all of them had seemed completely unrelated at first. Hell, even after they knew that everything was connected they had still seemed unrelated.

It had made no sense to him when they first started looking at them. Everything about the cases was so organized that under any other circumstance he would have wondered if someone was just copying a book or something. It was all too well thought out.

When the cases first started to come in he had actually brought that up. He had thought it might be possible that someone was finding cases online and copying them. It wasn't as if that would be the first time something like that had happened.

It also made a lot of sense given how smoothly the crimes had happened. Almost like they had known exactly what was going to happen. Something that he knew would have been very hard to do. People rarely reacted the way others wanted them to. Especially when they were under duress.

They had tried to find something on that angle though. No other crimes matched up with what had been done. Nothing about what happened made any sense to him. Everything worked so well together and yet seemed so far away at the same time. He had no idea how to make sense of it.

And they still hadn't found Keller. At least he didn't think they did. Under any other circumstance he would ask Luca what was going on with the case, but something told him that wasn't going to fly this time.

Alright, so it wasn't just something. It was the fact that his friend hadn't bothered to try to bring it up. That wasn't what they normally did. Yes, some things were more sensitive topics, but they knew how to avoid those. They also never did that with work related things. It was just another thing to add to an ever-growing list of things going wrong.

Running a hand over his face Street pushed the laptop off to the side before moving to stand up. There was the all too familiar feeling of needles in his legs making him not only wince but wonder how long he'd been sitting there.

Moving slower than he liked he glanced over at his dresser. He could feel his heart start speed up when he caught sight of a notebook resting on the wood like it hadn't been popping into his mind every few minutes since he set it there.

Writing down everything that he remembered from his fight with Baylon had actually been the first thing he had done after he decided to go after Keller. The last thing he had wanted to do was forget or overlook any of the details of what happened that day.

As soon as he finished writing though he had closed the notebook and put it to the side. He hadn't wanted… Truthfully, he wasn't really sure why he had decided not to read over what he had written. He just decided not to.

He wasn't even sure exactly what it was that he had written at all. Everything about that night was a bit of a blur. Everything about _both_ nights was a bit of a blur. Something that he was slowly becoming more and more accustomed with though he hated it just the same.

That had been the main reason why he had decided to write everything down. His thoughts were all over the place at the moment. The idea of forgetting something important just because he couldn't remember was too much for him at that moment.

It had also helped to get all of those thoughts out of his head so he could focus on what he needed to do. What was the purpose of trying to figure everything out if he was just going to be stuck replaying the same scene in his head over and over again?

"That is quite the conundrum you've built for yourself, isn't it, dear?" a voice questioned from behind him.

Street felt his entire body go stiff as the voice slowly filtered through. He had no idea what words were actually said, but he knew that voice. He doubted he would ever be able to get that voice out of his head again.

It felt like a trick as he stood there his eyes clenched shut trying his hardest not to panic. He needed to keep his head on straight if he was going to be able to figure out what was going on and he was going to do just that. It was just going to take some time.

A soft chuckle echoed throughout his room causing him to reach out to grip the dresser as a wave of dizziness filled him. Even with his eyes shut he felt as if the room was spinning. It almost felt as if he was going to fall over.

His nails dug into the wood sending small shocks of pain through his body. A part of him hoped that the feeling would be grounding, but he felt the same as he had before. Though he wasn't exactly sure if that was a good thing or not.

"Do you always have such trouble focusing on what's around you?" the voice spoke once more causing him to try to dig his nails even deeper.

Forcing himself to take a few shaky yet deep breaths Street braced himself before letting his eyes flutter open. He wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting to see when they finally did, but his bedroom wasn't it.

For a split moment he found himself believing that the voice was just in his head. A sentence which shouldn't have comforted him nearly as much as it was. Then he slowly turned around to face his bed.

His heart felt as if it had stopped completely as the hope was replaced with despair. Sitting on his bed, looking as if it was where he belonged, was the man that had started it all. It shouldn't have been shocking, but, for some reason, he had hoped beyond hope that he had been wrong.

"Baylon," he breathed his voice barely above a whisper.

"Hello, dear," the man smiled looking completely at ease, "How are you?"

Ignoring the pain it caused, Street shook his head quickly as he turned away from the man. He was fully aware that it was childish move, but at the moment he couldn't bring himself to care. All that mattered was making him go away.

It wasn't as if he was supposed to be there anyway. He was dead. He had been dead for days. Tan had killed him that night. There was no chance that he was really sitting there talking to him as if nothing had happened. Fuck, even if he was alive he wouldn't be sitting there as if they were lifelong friends! Yet…

Clenching his hands into fists he let his nails dig into the flesh of his palms hard enough to draw blood. It was a desperate attempt to get his mind to focus, but it was all he could think of at the moment, and truthfully, he was desperate.

"No, no, Sweetheart," Baylon whispered suddenly into his ear, "Don't get lost in you own mind. Focus on me."

Jerking around Street found himself face to face with the man. Somehow he was only a few inches behind him. His eyes darted back to the bed as if to make sure that Baylon wasn't sitting there as well. He hadn't even heard the man get up. Was he really so out of it that he hadn't heard any movement?

A soft chuckle from the killer had Street focusing back on his face. That almost peaceful smile was on his lips as he placed his hands behind his back and started to rock ever so slightly. Without thinking he closed his eyes hoping that it would be gone with they open again.

"Come now," he continued his voice gentle yet chiding, "You're smarter than that. Closing your eyes and wishing with all your heart won't make me disappear."

"Why are you here?" Street muttered still not opening his eyes.

"Maybe I was wrong about you being intelligent. You know exactly why I'm here."

"No."

"Yes. You do."

Biting at his eyes Street forced his eyes open once more only to find Baylon smiling at him happily. Feeling tears fill his eyes he brushed past the man and walked to his bed. Falling down on it he wrapped his arms around himself tightly as he tried to stop himself from crying. The last thing he wanted to do was breakdown in front of the man.

"Oh, honey," Baylon sighed coming to kneel in front of him, "I know."

"I hate you," Street glared angrily at the man, "I fucking hate you."

"I did get quiet deep in your head, didn't I? It was oh so easy too."

"Shut up, you son of a bitch."

Holding his hands up Baylon let out a soft hum before he standing up and starting to walk his room. His movements were slow as he stopped in front of the dresser his hand ghosting over the edge pausing to ever so gently tap on the notebook. An almost dark smirk flickered on his face before that smile came back to his lips.

"I'm sorry," Baylon apologizes turning to look at him once more an almost shy smile on his lips, "That was cruel of me. I shouldn't talk like that to someone in your _delicate_ state."

Glaring up at the man Street found himself wishing more than anything that he could take a swing at the man. He wasn't stupid though. He knew that he wasn't actually in front of him. At least he hoped he wasn't really there.

"Oh shut up," Street muttered shaking his head and glaring at the floor.

"That was rude," Baylon practically pouted, "You could try being a little kinder."

"Kinder? You want me to be 'kinder' to you? You tried to kill me!"

It took a second longer for him to realize that he had yelled. In the back of his mind he knew that he shouldn't bring any attention to himself or what was going on, but it wasn't until that moment that it came to the forefront of his mind.

Sitting there in complete silence Street waited to hear his friends footsteps getting closer to the door or his name being called out, but nothing happened. Feeling more than a little confused he looked over at the door as if trying to will a knock to come.

Nothing.

"Well, now that was dangerous," Baylon giggled a twisted grin coming to his lips.

A shiver of dread filled him at that look. He knew that there was a darkness in the man, but he had only ever seen flickers of it. The last thing Baylon wanted was for people to see who he was underneath all of the facades that he worked so hard to maintain. He couldn't let himself be seen.

That had to be how he was able to do everything he did. Because no one was paying attention to what he was actually saying. All that mattered when he talked was the tone of voice he used and the way his eyes seemed to have such a warmth in them. It was hard to see past that.

As much as he hated to admit it that was how he had fallen. It had been as if Baylon had seen through to his very soul and said exactly what he needed to hear. Or, what he had always wanted to hear.

Street wanted to believe that he was better than falling for that, but he wasn't. Obviously, he wasn't. If he had than Baylon would be alive and in a cell rather than dead and in his bedroom. At least, maybe that's hoe it would have happened. He wasn't really sure of anything anymore. Baylon had made sure of that.

"You can call me Eliot," the man offered his voice almost soothing though the darkness didn't leave his face.

"Get out of my head," Street growled out.

An almost manic laugh left the mans lips as he stalked closer to him. There was so much power and force in the way the man moved that Street couldn't help himself as he crawled backwards on the bed.

As soon as his back hit the wall Baylon's knees hit the bed. Leaning over him the killer seemed so much bigger than Street had thought before. For a moment neither of them moved. Then Baylon's hand reached out ghosting over his throat.

It felt as if the fingers were wrapped around his neck once more. He could feel the fingers tightening around his throat cutting off his air supply. Reaching up he tried to pry the fingers away only to find himself touching his own neck with nothing in the way.

A broken whimper fell from his lips at the feeling and for the first time since it all started he found himself looking at the closed door of his bedroom praying that Luca would open it. He didn't care what it would look like to the older man. He couldn't… he needed his friend to help him. He couldn't handle Baylon alone.

"Oh, honey," Baylon shook his head leaning closer cutting off his sight of the door, "He's gone. He left for work awhile ago. Remember? He stopped right in front of that door and called your name. You were silent. So focused on 'remembering' the case that you couldn't be bothered to pay attention to your… What is he to you?"

"No," Street panted out begging for it not to be true though he knew it was.

"Sounds like you care for him."

"Stop."

"Why would I do that, dear? You're so easy to play with."

"Baylon."

"Come on, do you really want to stop now? We're having so much fun."

Shutting his eyes Street tried his hardest to block out the man in front of him. He couldn't handle hearing the man talk anymore. Everything felt as if it was spinning apart around him and there was nothing he could do.

"No no no, Jim Street," Baylon said smirking once more, "Don't hide away from me. Not when we're just getting somewhere."

Feeling his eyes go wide Street stared up at Baylon not noticing the blood slowing falling from his nose and dripping down his face. He had never told Baylon his name. He had made sure to never tell him his name.

"Oh Jimmy," Baylon chuckled a shark-like smile pulling on his lips, "Did you really think I'd let you go? Oh, honey. You're mine now."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little more information on the case so I can make it even more angst-y later! Yay angst!
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> If you want to be kept up to date with any upcoming stories or want to ask me to write a story for you please follow me on Facebook 'SilverMidnight52' or on Tumblr under SilverMidnightWrite! I own nothing.

Dropping the latest file onto the table Luca reached up and started to message his forehead trying to get rid of the ache that had been building over the last few hours. He had always hated sitting around going over file after file searching for clues.

Under normal circumstance he would have someone else with him and a system on the computer looking for keywords and a handful of other ways helping make the process not easier but faster. He didn't have that at the moment.

Truthfully, he didn't really have anything at all. None of them did. No matter how hard they tried or where they looked or how many times they went over the information that they did have… Nothing changed. There was nothing.

Shaking his head Luca tried to knock those thoughts away as he reached out and picked up an egg roll. Taking a big bite he let his eyes close as he tried to push the anger and frustration away. He just needed a moment to stop and calm down for a moment. Just a moment.

Food always gave that to him. There was a reason why he had bought the food truck. Nothing brought people together like food. He loved everything that came with food and family gatherings and everything in-between.

Up until that moment he hadn't realized just how hungry he was. The only thing that he had been focused on was finding something to help them finally solve the case and find something to help Street. He doubted that he had even really moved since he sat down.

That was probably why Hondo had just placed the food in front of him. Or a few moments ago. A few hours ago was possible even. He wasn't really sure how long the food had been sitting there or how long he had been sitting there either.

All he knew was that he hadn't actually eaten since he left for work that morning. Even then it hadn't been much. He was starving and he needed to take a break before he went insane trying to find something he wasn't sure was even there.

When he left for work that morning he hadn't been rushing out of the house. In truth, he had stayed around for so long that he had almost been late. Mostly it had just been him sitting there waiting for his friend to come out of his bedroom.

He was fully aware that he had only been waiting for a little over an hour, but sitting there it had felt as if time had stopped. Not that he had really cared. If it wasn't for work he would have sat there all day waiting.

Vaguely he had been aware of the sounds outside of the house. Kids screaming and laughing as they played. Cars driving past as people started and ended their days. Planes and helicopters flying above them all taking everything in.

All of those sounds had always brought a peace to him. Probably because he had grown up there. He knew that those sounds meant that he was home. Only a phone call or short walk away from someone that was family. It was that knowledge that kept him grounded no matter what happened.

All the time he sat there though he wished for silence. Just for one single moment so he could hear Street. He truly hadn't cared what noise he heard. His bed squeaking, his breathing, his feet pacing the floor, his nails tapping against the keyboard. He'd take anything to know his friend was okay.

Minute by minute ticked by and nothing happened. No sounds or movement. No Street. Then he noticed the time. He couldn't wait anymore. That was when he decided to knock on the door. One last ditch effort to hear his friends voice.

He could admit that his knock had been softer than normal, but it was still loud enough. It should have woken him up. Instead the only sound was Duke whimpering beside him. And that was it. No more waiting. No more silence. The world kept moving.

As soon as he got to work he grabbed every file they had on Baylon and Keller. It was a lot of files on the cases that had happened because of the two of them. A lot of information on everything. Except them. At least outside of the little that they already knew about them. Not that knowing what they looked like and that they were in love really helped them.

A part of him couldn't believe just how often those words were said. Over and over. They were so in love. A few even said that they would kill for a love like the two of them had. Something that took on a whole different meaning when the people saying it actually had innocent blood on their hands. Because of the lovers.

Luca still couldn't believe that so much chaos was caused by just two people. Seventeen people were killed because they… Hell, they didn't even know why they started to do any of it in the first place. They just started. Day one? Two deaths. Day two? Three deaths. Week one? Five deaths. Week three? Ten deaths.

Every time he thought about that he wanted to scream. It had taken them barely any time to convince people to kill ten people. How could that possibly have happened? How could so many people to do such horrible thing? Not only to strangers but people they knew and loved. It made no sense.

It was cases like the one he was working that he finally understood what his mother had always said. He could remember his mother pulling him and his brother back from their father as he dropped into a chair at the kitchen table and drag a bottle of whiskey close to him.

It didn't happen often and he never feared what his father might do to them when he was in that sat. All he knew was what his mother said. His father needed to start thinking like himself and not the people he chased.

While he always respected that he hadn't realized what it meant until he was a cop himself. Then he understood perfectly. Being able to think like the people they went up against was one of their greatest assets. It was also the scariest thing they did.

They had to go up against the darkest of humanity, see what they saw, feel what they felt, and come back to themselves in the end. Sometimes it took longer than others, but they always came back to the team, to their family.

As much as he hated it he could almost always figure out why a criminal did what they did. Whether it was greed or revenge or love. It was always one of those three. Usually more than one of them truthfully.

Except this time.

As far as any of them could find Keller and Baylon had no reason to do any of what they did. The people they convinced to become murderers and the ones that were killed had no connection to those two. At least not one that any of them had been able to find.

"Find anything, Luca?" Hondo asked leaning against the table.

"Nothing we didn't already know," Luca sighed looking up at his boss, "There's nothing else here."

Hondo slowly nodded his head pushing away from the table. He made it a few steps before turning around and coming back over. Taking another bite of his egg roll Luca watched as his friend continued to slowly pace in front of him.

As much as he wanted to say something he knew that there was really nothing to say. With all of the information that they had and the fact that they still had nothing on the two men… It was angering to say the least.

Although he guessed that it didn't matter any longer if they figured out who Baylon was. The man was dead. There was nothing that he could do to anyone now that he was gone. The only person they had left to worry about was Keller.

As soon as that thought entered his mind Luca wanted to roll his eyes. Of course, _he_ couldn't help. _He was dead_. There was nothing that he could do anymore. The information, on the other hand, could help all of them. A lot. They just had to find a place to start learning.

"Alright," Hondo started after a moment dragging his attention away before he started to overthink everything, "What do we have on Baylon and Keller?"

"Nothing," he replied with a shrug, "Nothing that we didn't already know."

"Tell me that then."

Luca hated the angry, almost desperate tone in the mans voice. Every single person on the team was doing everything in their power to try to find something to point them in the right direction. All of them just wanted for the case to finally end. They were sick and tired of thinking about Keller and Baylon.

Even worse than that though was the fact that they knew each day that passed since Baylon's death with no word from Keller drastically decreased the chance of them finding him. Every moment the case was getting colder and colder.

The idea of not finding Keller, of not bringing him to justice, made him angrier than he could explain. It was their job to find the criminals and bring them to justice. That was what they were trained to do. They shouldn't have to put a file in the cold case and fail the people.

"James Keller," Luca started standing up and walking to the screen as he pulled up the file they had, "Born June 20, 1992 in Nashville, Tennessee. He moved to LA when he was fifteen. From what we've been able to gather about his schooling he was average. Never sent to the principle. He wasn't a part of any sports or clubs. He was just another name on a page. When he was graduated he took out a lot of loans and went to UCLA to study child psychology. For the two semesters he was around he was average. Then he dropped out of school and that was it."

"What about his friends and family?" Hondo crossed his arms over his chest, "Did they have anything to say?"

"From what we could find he didn't really have friends. No one hung out with him at all. A few teachers had even forgotten that he was in their case at all. For the most part he was focused on his school work. He didn't got out to parties or anything like that. All he did was read."

"And his family?"

"Nothing there. He had a normal childhood, according to his parents. The biggest thing for him was moving to LA."

"They had no idea about Baylon or that their son was involved in this?"

"None. Based on what they said they haven't spoken to their son in a few years. Even before that they rarely talked to him. Even with that though, I'm pretty sure his mother still doesn't believe he did it."

"It's doubtful he'll contact her?"

"Very. They're not a close knit family. Both Mrs. Keller and Mr. Keller admit that fully. Him contacting either of them makes no sense."

A sigh fell from Hondo at that and Luca couldn't help agreeing. After months of investigating they should have more information on the man. Hell, they should have more information on the case at all. And if he was honest, the whole case felt like they had gotten lucky in the arrests they had already made.

"Do we know how they met at least?" Hondo asked steeping closer to the screen before turning around.

"Not for sure," Luca shook his head, "The best we can guess is Baylon's coffee shop. It's close to the bookstore that Keller was known for frequenting."

"Frequenting? How often was he there? Do we know what kind of books he got?"

Blinking a few time he walked back to the desk and pulled out all the notes they had on the bookstore. He hadn't been exaggerating when he said that he frequented the bookstore. The man ended up there for hours on end every day it was open. It almost seemed as if every moment of free time he had was spent in that store.

When he had first read that he had hoped that the people that worked there had some idea about who James Keller was. It turned out not to be the case. He might have spent the majority of his time at there, but apparently he never actually talked to any of the workers outside of the normal polite conversation.

"Here we go," Luca muttered pulling out the file before clearing his throat, "Okay, the books he got… It looks like… I have no idea. Let me…"

Going over to the keyboard he started to look up the authors and a few of the titles hoping they had some kind of connection. He couldn't believe that they hadn't thought to look up the books that he had bought. It should have been one of the first things they did.

"It's not much," Luca offered after a moment glancing at his boss, "But I think Keller might have been the one pulling the strings."

"Why?" Hondo questioned moving closer to him, "What do you see?"

"Romance."

"Romance?"

"Every single one of these books is a romance book. I know that's not uncommon. A lot of people read books like that."

"But?"

"But he's 28. In college and not a bad looking guy. Yet he's spending all his free time at a bookstore reading romance novels. He's not looking for sex. He wants a relationship. If he was really as alone as he seemed than he would have been an easy target for Baylon."

"If Baylon saw what you saw than it's very possible that he manipulated Keller like he did the others."

"Exactly. I think Baylon was the one pulling the strings. It makes sense given the little we know."

"You're right. It's the best we got. If you're right though and Keller was being manipulated and Baylon is dead…"

"Keller is out there with no plan and no boyfriend and no one telling him what to do. He just got ten times more dangerous."


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am torturing the poor boy. Don't worry though. He'll get help. Eventually. Hopefully. We'll see.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> If you want to be kept up to date with any upcoming stories or want to ask me to write a story for you please follow me on Facebook 'SilverMidnight52' or on Tumblr under SilverMidnightWrite! I own nothing.

Tugging his jacket tighter around him Street did his best to ignore the shivers that seemed to be racking through his body. Which he was vaguely aware didn't make any sense. The sun was high in the afternoon sky and everyone around him was wearing normal LA summer clothes. Outside of a passing thought that they didn't really register that something was off.

The only thing that he had found himself able to focus on was the idea of finding Keller. He knew that the man was the key to everything that was going on. If he could just find him than everything would go back to normal. It would be okay.

The only problem with that was the fact that he had no idea where he was supposed to even start looking. With how much time was spent trying to find both Keller and Baylon one would think he'd have something to go off of. There was nothing though. There had never been anything.

Which lead him to where he was now. His eyes roamed over all the faces that walked through the streets hoping that maybe he'd recognize one as Keller. It was a Hail Mary and he was fully aware of that, but he couldn't think of anything else.

It wasn't as if he had decided to walk the entire city looking for the man though. He could remember being told that Keller had spent a lot of time around there. At least he had been when he was back in college.

It was so odd to think that the man had basically disappeared after he dropped out. Normally people were only able to do that with outside help and nothing they found had brought in anyone else into the fray.

How was it possible that they had never actually found anything? They had spent so long gathering information on both Keller and Baylon they should have something. Especially given the fact that they had known about them fairly early on in their investigation. They were never really hidden during the investigation.

That was another thing that he'd never really understood. When it came to organizations, especially ones that dealt with crime, the person pulling the strings was protected. Revealing who they were was a death sentence.

It didn't matter if the underlings were too fearful or respectful of the person in control. In the end, it was always difficult, if not impossible, to get them to flip on their leaders. That was just how things went.

This case threw all of that out the window though. The people that the team talked to openly told them about Baylon and Keller. At least they did once the team realized what questions they should be asking. After that getting names and sketches was easy. In the end though, they hadn't given them any helpful information.

When the names had first been dropped and they started looking into the pair Street had actually wondered if the men were being framed. They seemed too normal, and frankly boring, to pull off the crimes they were being accused of.

All of that was thrown out the window fairly quickly though. Mostly because neither Baylon nor Keller were hiding what they did. Yes, it was impossible to find the men, but they were too proud of everything that they did to not let the team know it was them.

Except he wasn't actually sure that's what ended up happening. He had never met either Keller or Baylon. At least he didn't count what happened with Baylon as a meeting. Not that he had any idea what he was supposed to call it. It was just something that happened that he had to deal with.

"Deal with?" Baylon laughed from beside him, "My dear, you are not 'dealing' with anything at all. You are… Oh, what's the words I'm looking for?"

"Shut up," Street muttered under his breath his eyes darting around hoping no one way paying attention to him.

"No, that's not it. Delusional? Close, but not quite right. Hmm… Oh, do you think crazy would fit?"

"I'm not crazy."

An almost happy laugh escaped Baylon at that. He could never understand how someone could sound so pleased about what was going on. He felt as if he was losing his mind and the man next to him was…

Cursing under his breath Street tugged at his jacket once more trying to starve off the ice that seemed to be running through his veins. He hated how easy it was for him to forget that there wasn't anyone next to him. Baylon was dead. Tan had killed him.

Except he was standing next to him. At least, an image of him was there. A ghost. A vision. A delusion. He was completely sure that he wanted to know the answer to that specific question. He just wanted him gone. He wanted it all gone.

Forcing himself to take a deep breath Street started to move once more his eyes darting around trying to find any sign of Keller. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack, but it was better than sitting at home doing nothing.

"Doing nothing?" Baylon questioned appearing in front of him with a pout, "I thought we were having a wonderful conversation, dear. About Luca and how that pretty little mind of yours is coming a part at the seams."

Shaking his head quickly he tried, for what felt like the thousandth time, to get the other man to disappear. The action only brought another laugh from him. He knew exactly what was going on and was enjoying it.

"Well, can you blame me?" Baylon questioned stuffing his hands into his pockets and trying to look innocent, "It's just so much fun, sweetheart."

Speeding up Street tried to put some distance between him and Baylon though he knew that it wasn't going to do any good. The man was in his head. There was nowhere for him to run or hide. He couldn't escape him.

It felt good to move though. To feel the concrete and gravel beneath his feet as he walked. To be around people without them even really realizing that he was there. There was something almost freeing about that.

"Oh, yes," Baylon spoke once more, "Very freeing running from all you problems. Though you do that quite a bit from what I can see. Always running away from everything."

"I'm not running," Street denied before he could stop himself.

"Of course not. You're too weak for that."

The sudden turn from playful to almost furious had Street tightening his grip on his coat until his knuckles turned white. No matter how much his mind screamed at him that it wasn't real, that Baylon couldn't hurt him again, that tone terrified him.

Without thinking Street let his head drop to his chest as he started to walk faster. The idea of finding Keller suddenly didn't seem all that important. The only thought running through his mind was getting away.

Right behind him Baylon started to hum. The noise was so soft, but it felt as if it was right in his ear. The man was right there. He was always right there. No matter how fast he moved or how many much he begged for him to be gone; he was still there. He couldn't do anything about it.

Ever since he woke up in the hospital there was a feeling of being out of control that had taken up residence in his chest. It was as if the world had somehow stopped spinning while he kept moving and he had no idea what he was supposed to do about it.

Every step he took he felt as if the ground beneath his feet was going to shift and swallow him whole. Every breathe he took felt stifled to the point where he wasn't sure he was actually breathing at all. Every sound he heard made him feel as if he had been tossed into the ocean.

"I thought you said you didn't run, dear?" Baylon questioned sounding calm once more.

Swallowing roughly Street shook his head refusing to reply to the man. It wasn't as if the man was actually there. He just had to remember that and not let him get into his head anymore than he already was.

He could do that. He knew that he could do that. No matter what Baylon said he wasn't weak by any means. With everything that he had dealt with in his life that was the one thing that he held close to his heart.

Maybe it was foolish of him, but the fact that he hadn't let his past break him was a point of pride. The knowledge that he had already faced dark days made it all that much easier to believe that he could handle whatever life through at him next.

"Again," Baylon cut in with a disappointed sigh, "You're running away."

Digging his nails into his palms Street forced himself to focus on the pain. All he had to do was continue to ignore him. Baylon was like a gnat. As soon as he got bored he'd leave and Street would be able to get on with his life once more.

"Is that really what you think?" Baylon asked almost pityingly, "Oh honey. No, you're stuck with me. I already told you that. I'm never going away. Isn't that what you want though? Someone that's never going to leave you?"

Street felt himself freeze at that. He knew in that back of his mind that the man was a figment of his imagination and therefore knew exactly what to say to get under his skin. He knew that it wasn't real. None of it was real. Yet hearing those words…

All of his life he had wanted to hear those words came from someone and know that they were truthful. The knowledge that for once someone was picking him over everyone else was all he ever dreamed of having.

Having those words come from Baylon though sent a wave of something through him that he couldn't quite identify. With everything that had happened around him lately he wasn't fully sure he wanted to attempt figuring it it out.

Not with the knowledge of who and what the man in front of him was. Nothing about the situation should have been difficult. It never should have been difficult. Yet the only thing that he felt when he thought about Baylon was confusion.

How was that right? How as it possible that someone that he had…

He had only been there to arrest him. That was it. There was no questions about his guilt or Hell, outside of the initial run after the shooting it hadn't been difficult to catch him. Given what he had seen that day the man had probably wanted to be caught.

There was nothing about him that should have thrown Street off as much as he was. As soon as he had eyes on Baylon than everything was fairly cut and dry. All he had to do was arrest the man and take him into custody.

That wasn't what happened though. Why wasn't that what happened? How could he, after so many other times of succeeding, fail to do his job? How could he still be so confused about everything that was going on?

There was just something about the other man that made it impossible for him to think straight. Something that he had taken full advantage of that night. Something he was _still_ fucking taking advantage of.

That thought got to him more than it should. Of course, someone was going to use everything in their power to get away when they were about to be arrested. It just made sense. If that happened to be manipulation than so be it.

"You're thoughts are so boring sometimes," Baylon practically pouted as they took another corner, "Why don't we talk about something more fun? Like your roommate."

"Shut up," Street glared at the man forgetting he was trying not to talk to him.

"So defensive. Have you realized yet you only do that when dear old Dominique Luca is brought up, dear?"

"Stop it."

"Why do you hate me bringing up your roommate so? It's almost like you're afraid of something. I can't say I blame you though. We both know you care for him. Deeply."

Shaking his head in an attempt to push the mans words away Street picked up speed ignoring the pain it caused him. At that moment he couldn't bring himself to care about any of that. The only thing that mattered to him was…

He had no idea. The words were on the tip of his tongue and he had no idea what they were even supposed to be. It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense anymore. He just wanted it to stop. All of it. It was too much for him to handle.

Swallowing roughly Street looked around at where he was for the first time in awhile. The world around him somehow looked exactly the same and completely different from what he was used to seeing.

Empty buildings, overflowing dumpsters, graffiti. He could be practically anywhere in the entire city. Yet deep down there was something telling him that he hadn't been there before. At least that's what he thought it was saying.

Feeling the tears sting his eyes he backed himself up until he was pressed against a brick wall. He tried to force himself to take a deep breath, but he could feel his chest getting tighter and tighter the more he tried.

Without thinking Street reached down and tried to pull out his phone. The device fell to the ground hard enough that he heard the screen shatter. The sob he had been trying to hold back broke free as he picked it up once more.

His hands shook painfully as he stared down at the black screen praying that it would turn on. For a moment nothing happened. Screwing his eyes shut Street threw his head back causing it to crack into the bricks though he paid no attention to it.

After a moment he opened his eyes once more and looked at the screen. A spiderweb crack took over most of the space, but it was working and that was all that mattered. Ignoring the way the glass cut at his fingers he quickly logged in and found the number he was looking for.

Hitting call he waited for a moment needing to hear the voice that always seemed to calm him down. A moment passed in complete silence and he couldn't stop himself from screaming as he tossed the phone to the side.

"Oh, honey," Baylon muttered softly kneeling in front of him as he curled into a ball, "So very stupid. You are so very stupid."


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh, this took a turn that I was not expecting. Alright, so I kind of expected that this would happen, but it was a lot darker than I thought. I really hope the ending lives up to everything else that's been done so far. Only a few more chapters before the end!
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> If you want to be kept up to date with any upcoming stories or want to ask me to write a story for you please follow me on Facebook 'SilverMidnight52' or on Tumblr under SilverMidnightWrite! I own nothing.

Spinning his keys in his fingers Luca slammed the door of his truck loudly enough to wince. It wasn't all that late in the day, just a little after seven in the evening, but after the day he had the noise made his head feel like it was going to implode. Spending so much time staring at files and screens would do that to a person though.

Still, if it had been up to him he wouldn't have left. It wasn't as if they were any closer to finding something that might help them track Keller down. Hell, it had felt as if he hadn't actually done any work at all.

After he had speculated that Baylon had been the one that was pulling the strings and not the two of them together he had decided to go through everything once more. It wasn't likely, but looking at the information through a different eye might just get some different answers.

Shockingly enough, it didn't. Instead he had a whole new mess of questions to add on top of the ones that he already had. He couldn't believe how frustrating the whole case was given the fact that they only had one more person to catch. It was supposed to be getting easier the more days that passed.

Instead it felt as if there was nothing that they could possibly do to figure out what was going on with the case. Everything about the case made it seem as they weren't actually investigating. It was as if it was all just happening around them.

Normally whenever the pieces fell in place around them it was an easy case. The criminals were idiots that didn't seem to understand what they were even doing in the first place. Those cases were boring and surprisingly okay with all of them.

This was nothing like that. There was nothing simple about the cases or the people that were committing them. Nothing was more frustrating than seeing the answers that were right in front of them when there was no use for them anymore.

The whole thing made him want to scream or hit something. Anything to release the tension that was building in the pit of his stomach. He just wanted to be able to go through a day without feeling as if he was failing everyone.

Which was probably why Hondo and Deacon had stepped in and forced him to go home. Those two knew exactly what to look for in each and every single person on the team to know when it was time for them to step in and point them in the right direction.

That didn't mean that he hadn't wanted to fight them so he could continue to work. He just knew that the men would win and force him home one way or another. At least, this way he could get back to work faster. The last thing he wanted was for his boss to take him from the case completely.

Especially since it would mean that the team would be down another person. They were better when they were all together and though one or two people being gone wouldn't cause too many problems it was not ideal.

Add the fact that the only reason Street was out was because of the case and he was going to do everything in his power to stay there and help. He had to be there to take down the person that had hurt him. At least take down the person that was associated with the man that had hurt his friend.

It was a confusing thing to think about to say the least. It wasn't very common for the bad guys to be in a relationship. Or should he say it wasn't common for them to not end up being killed around the same time.

That was another reason why he was almost positive that Baylon was pulling the strings alone. In every case that he worked where lovers like Baylon and Keller were involved they were almost always found in the same place together. It's why they worked so hard to separate them.

The fact that Baylon was alone that night gave him a lot more questions that he doubted he'd ever get answers to. Even though he knew that those answers were important if they wanted to wrap the case up properly.

With a soft sigh Luca leaned against his truck and pulled out his phone. As much as he wanted to shut his brain off for a little while he knew that until he told someone that it was going to be rattling around in his head.

For the most part that person was Street. The younger man was one of the easiest people to talk to. There was no trying to explain what he was thinking or wondering if he was making any sense. He always seemed to be on the same page.

That was also the last thing that he could do at the moment. After everything that his friend had gone through with the case Luca couldn't bring himself to bring it up. Especially since he knew that it would be the only thing on his mind.

He was actually a little surprised that the man hadn't contacted them. Trying to force their way into cases that hit a little too close was something that all of them did. Even when that was the last thing any of them should do. The fact that Street hadn't called them at all sat like a lead brick in his stomach.

"Luca?" Tan started not bothering with a greeting, "Shouldn't you be relaxing for the night?"

"Who says I'm not relaxing?" Luca replied feeling the smirk pull at his lips.

"Do you actually want me to answer that?"

Chuckling softly he pushed away from his truck and started towards his home. At least that's what he had planned on doing. As soon as he was focused on the building though a rocked formed in the pit of his stomach. For the first time in a long time the place where he felt safest made him want to turn and walk away. He wanted to hit himself for even thinking that.

As much as he hated to admit it, with everything that was going on with his roommate he didn't want to go inside. The idea of sitting in the living room with the shell of his friend was too much. If he even decided to leave his bedroom that day.

Seeing his friend act so differently than normal was scarier than he wanted to admit. He knew who Street was. They had a routine that they followed and, truthfully, the younger man wasn't a fan of breaking routines.

It was something that Luca hadn't thought he'd enjoy. All of his life he had spent in motion. It didn't matter what he was doing as long as he was doing something and was surrounded by people. He didn't do alone very well.

Street was the opposite of that. He didn't exactly like being alone, but he did enjoy a bit of quiet. He would be perfectly content to just being in the living room with Luca not talking at all. As long as he wasn't truly alone he was okay.

That actually helped Luca a lot more than he liked to admit. For the longest time he didn't know how to simply be without having something that he was supposed to be doing. He couldn't just sit there and be. Not until Street showed him that it was okay.

Which made him feel so guilty for what he was doing. Street was his friend. Hell, he was his best friend. The last thing he should be doing was standing next to his truck scared to even going into his own home and see his friend. Especially, when said friend obviously needed some help.

"Luca?" Tan questioned the worried tone cutting through his thoughts, "You there?"

"Yeah," he replied shaking his head while turning from the house, "Sorry, I was thinking."

"That must have hurt."

"Funny. Listen, I was thinking about the case."

"Have a new idea we should be looking at?"

"More of a thought that won't leave me alone. I told Hondo that I thought Baylon was the one that was pulling the strings."

"Right. He told the rest of us a little after you left. You think differently now?"

"No, actually, I'm doubling down on that thought."

"Care to explain?"

"You've seen lovers turn criminal before, right?"

"Once. Sort of. I was new to the force and it was more of an 'after the fact' investigation. We were just piecing things together."

"How did that work out?"

"Well, from what I remember, the couple didn't have a lot of money so they decided to break into places to gather things for their perfect wedding. The last place they hit was a jewelry store. They pulled a gun and the owner pulled a gun. Both of them ended up shooting and all of them ended up dead."

A soft sigh fell from Luca at that. It was one of the more common reasons that criminals gave. They just wanted to give the person that they loved more than anything whatever it was they desired. And in the end, desperate people did desperate things.

For him those types of cases were hard to handle. Mostly because it was so easy to understand why they did what they did. Hell, he often thought that if he had been in their position he would do the exact same thing. How could he arrest someone for that?

"Most stories are like that," Luca offered softly, "They go after specific targets for specific reasons. For the most part violence isn't a factor. All they want is to solve the problem and they believe that doing what they're doing is the only way. They're desperate."

"That doesn't sound like Baylon and Keller," Tan replied the frown clear in his voice.

"No, they sound like the other category. A much more rare one."

"Alright. What does that mean?"

"On rare occasions, the couple decides that they enjoy what they're doing. They find an enjoyment, a connection, in it and don't see a reason to not continue whatever it was they were doing. Sometimes, it's because they weren't able to succeed in getting whatever they needed at first. They no longer have anything to lose so why bother trying.

"Then there's the second that just enjoy it. Whether they met doing something illegal or they just happen to find each other they have no reason other than they can. There's also an added bit that they're in love. Once again there's nothing to lose. As long as the person by their side is there they've invincible."

"That doesn't sound like them either."

"Exactly. I have no doubt that Keller is in love with Baylon. We have enough testimony to that, but I don't think Baylon cared about any of it. It makes more sense if you put Keller in with the victims. His role was different, yes, but I'm almost positive that he was being manipulated just like the rest of them."

"If you're right, that changes everything. You told Hondo about this already though. Did you think of something new that might point us in a different direction?"

"Maybe. It's possible that-"

Before he could finish his sentence a round of loud barks echoed from inside. Chuckling softly at his dogs timing he quickly told Tan to hold on for a moment as he pulled out his keys to the house and went inside.

Instantly, Duke was next to him circling around his feet and pushing at him hard enough to almost fall. Something that wasn't unusual. That's how he reacted after being alone for so long. Except he wasn't alone.

Swallowing roughly he patted the dogs side as his eyes darted around the room looking for any sign of his roommate. There was nothing. Everything looked exactly how it had when he had left that morning.

"Luca?" Tan questioned after a moment, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Everything's fine. Look, I'm going to call you back in a minute. Let me check on Street real quick."

"Okay. Tell him-"

Without letting his friend finish his sentence Luca hung up. He knew that he was only going to worry the younger man with the action, but at the moment he couldn't bring himself to really think about Tan. Not when something inside of him was yelling that he needed to go find Street before it was too late.

Standing up he slipped his phone into his pocket and headed towards his friends room. His hand dropped unconsciously to his gun when he noticed that the mans bedroom door was open. He hated leaving his door open. Forcing himself to take a calming breath he slowly crept into the mans room hoping that he was just passed out on his bed. Instead he was met with a completely empty room.

His heart sped up as he took in everything about the room. It looked exactly how it always did. No sign of struggle or anything like that. Somehow the fact that it looked so normal scared him more than anything else.

A small voice in the back of his head told him that he should simply walk out of the room and call Tan. There was no reason to think that something bad had happened. Truthfully, the fact that Street was out of his room should have been a good thing.

Knowing that he was risking his friends anger Luca pushed that voice to the side and started to move around the room. Given everything that had happened recently he knew that the younger man would forgive him, eventually, for what he was doing. Anyway, it wasn't as if he was going to go through all the drawers or anything like that. He just…

He had no idea what he was doing. Seeing Street act so differently from normal threw him off in a way that he didn't know how to explain. All he wanted was to get his friend back and if that meant a little snooping than he could deal with the out come.

At first glance everything seemed as if it was in place. Nothing at all to suggest that he needed to dig any deeper. Coming to stop in front of the dresser he found himself shaking his head at what he was doing. Of course he was overreacting. He did that a lot when the people he loved were hurt.

With a soft sigh he started to turn around when a notebook on the dresser caught his eye. He knew that the last thing he should do was open it and see what the man was writing, but he found he couldn't stop himself as he opened it to the first page.

Feeling his eyes widen Luca started at the page unblinkingly. It was easy enough to identify Street's handwriting, but everything else about what was written through him off. His friend was the last person he'd expect to write like that.

Leaning forward he pulled the notebook closer trying to figure out what had been said. The words were jumbled though. Written over each other in a few places and scratched out with heavy black lines in others. There was only one word that he could make out in everything.

Baylon.

Over and over the name repeated. It almost looked like a high school girls notebook with their crushes name on the cover. Except for how the name was written. It was so heavy in places that the pen had torn through multiple pieces of paper.

Feeling his heart racing in his chest Luca pulled out his phone and took pictures of the first few pages. As much as he wished he could keep his team in the dark about something like this he knew that he needed their help. That Street needed their help.

Grabbing the notebook he started to the door his fingers already searching for Tan's number. Just as he was about to hit the call button though his phone started to ring. Seeing Street's name flash on the screen he felt more relieved than he had any right.

"Street," Luca breathed into the phone, "Thank god. Where the fuck-"

A broken, guttural scream broke in before he could finish. Without thinking he froze where he was. He never thought that he would hear his friend sound like that. So broken and scared and hurt and completely wrecked.

"Jim!" Luca yelled out taking off running to his truck, "Jimmy, I need you to listen to me. Tell me where you are. Okay? I'll be right there. Just tell me where you are!"

The only sound that responded were sobs. Blinking back tears he pulled the phone from his ear and put the younger man on hold. He hated himself for doing that when the man obviously needed help but he needed to get a hold of his team.

"Tan!" he yelled as soon as he heard him, "Track Street's phone! We need to get there. Now!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt the need to throw in what Tan was thinking between phone calls with Luca. He's been too much a part of this story for me to leave him alone for long.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> If you want to be kept up to date with any upcoming stories or want to ask me to write a story for you please follow me on Facebook 'SilverMidnight52' or on Tumblr under SilverMidnightWrite! I own nothing.

A soft sigh fell from Tan's lips as he found himself once again staring down at his cell phone waiting for it to ring. He had only hung up with Luca a few moments ago, but it felt as if hours had passed while he waited for the man to call back.

With every moment that passed a ball of nervous energy grew in the pit of his stomach that he couldn't shake no matter how hard he tried. If it had been any other time he would have been throwing punches at a bag right about then, but the fear of missing the phone call had him standing there doing nothing.

When Luca had first called he hadn't been able to help but roll his eyes. The older man had spent hours pouring over every piece of evidence and testimony they had trying to finally find a clues that they had missed. None of them had been surprised by him being kicked out of the building by the end of the day.

It wasn't as if that was the first time it had happened. Every single one of them had been forced to leave early because they couldn't let a case go long enough to take care of themselves. It kind of came with the whole being a cop thing.

It didn't help that one of the people at the center of the case was someone that they all cared about. Nor did it help that Street had this uncanny ability to either find trouble in the most bizarre way or just straight up completely fuck himself over. There was no in-between for that man and every single one of them knew it.

When the younger man had first joined the team Tan hadn't really known what to think. As willing as he had been to get to get to know the man and have him be a part of their little family it felt a little off. Like, Street wasn't sure if he should be there at all. After everything that happened with his mother it was clear to everyone why there had been a wall between them and him.

Then he came back and rejoined the team. Surprisingly enough things had changed a lot after that. He was more open with all of them and that wall seemed like it didn't exist anymore. They had all been happy about that.

Yes, it had taken awhile for all of them to get comfortable with one another, but in the end the team ended up feeling stronger than it had before. Something that he knew each and every single one of them felt. It had felt nice to have everything slot back into place after feeling as if something was missing.

Somehow though, there was one thing that didn't change at all. Street's ability to end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. The man just couldn't help but find trouble in the most unlikely of places. No matter what they were doing.

Alright, so they had been questioning someone they hoped might shed a little light on the case, but a part of him still felt as if it wasn't coincidence that Baylon was there. Despite the fact that there was nothing pointing to it being a set up.

That was the theme of the entire case though. No evidence pointing in any direction whatsoever. It was one of the most frustrating thing and all of them had started to feel the effects before everything had gone down with Street.

He still hadn't been able to get a full nights rest since that night. It was always hard to shake whenever he saw someone on the team get injured. It didn't matter how small the injury was. All that mattered was that they were hurt and there was nothing he or anyone on the team could have done to stop it.

It was a little different this time though. He had truly thought that he had seen everything that he could when it came to his team being hurt. Well, outside of them actually dying at least. From them getting stabbed or shot to them being poisoned and even dangled off the side of a buildings a few times he'd seen it.

The one thing that he had never seen was them not fighting. Even as they started to slip into unconsciousness they still fought for every breath that they took. As bad as it sounded, seeing that always made him feel a little better.

Knowing that the people that he cared about more than anything were willing to fight until the very end let him know that he had truly made the right call in the end. Even if people questioned why he went with the career that he did he never questioned it after seeing the fight in them.

Ever since that day though every time he tried to relax and close his eyes he ended up running right back into that warehouse. Over and over he kept seeing Street laying on the ground bleeding and _not fighting._ Why hadn't he been fighting?

He had tried to come up with a few answers on his own. From Street being too injured to him having realized that Tan had run in and was there to help him. Idea after idea came into his mind, but none of them fit no matter how hard he tried to make them.

He had been the one to push Baylon's lifeless body off of the younger man. He had taken category of the injuries that had been endured, at least the ones that he could see. There was no doubt that he had been hurt, but not enough to not fight back.

It made absolutely no sense to him. If Tan was being honest, out of everyone on the team he knew that Street had the most fight in him. It didn't matter what they were doing that man was always ready to do whatever it took. The fact that he hadn't been made him want to force Street to tell him what the hell had happened. He just wanted to understand.

Nothing had made sense for awhile though. As much as he wanted to say that it had started with Street being injured he knew that was a lie. Ever since the case had fallen into the laps everything had just felt off.

He wasn't exactly sure how to explain it. It was almost as if it wasn't a real case at all. Just a bunch of jumbled pieces someone threw together in a hopeless attempt at writing a story. Messy and ill-fitting and insane!

"Tan?" Deacon called out walking up to him along with Hondo, "What are you doing?"

"Waiting for Luca to call back," he replied with a slight shrug.

He watched the older men share a slightly amused smirk before looking back at him. It didn't take long for all of that to fall off their faces and he knew that he hadn't been hiding his worry all that well.

"What's wrong?" Hondo questioned crossing his arms over his chest.

"I don't know," Tan shook his head leaning his hands against the table, "I figured Luca would call and talk more about the case."

"He's invested," Deacon offered a small smile tugging on his lips, "He knows Street the best out of any of us. It's hitting him hard."

"Yeah. That's why I was listening I figured, in the long run, just letting him get out all of his thoughts would help him relax for the rest of the night. Even if he was just repeating what he said before it was better to let him talk and wear himself out."

"Solid plan," the smirk once again coming to Hondo's lips as he chuckled softly, "Luca loves hearing himself talk. Did he actually say anything?"

"Just more on how he thought Baylon was the mastermind behind everything and that Keller was a victim that had fallen in love. I think he was about to say something else, but Duke started to bark and he got distracted."

When he said it out loud Tan couldn't help shaking his head. It sounded like a completely normal conversation. One that they had a thousand times over the years. There was nothing at all to worry about.

Expect he knew that there was. Something deep in his chest twisted in an all too familiar way that he knew he couldn't ignore until he knew what it was that was going on. He had learned that lesson the hard way.

At the same time though that was exactly what he wanted to do. After everything that had happened he wanted the team to get back on their feet before another hit came their way. Just a little healing time was all they needed.

"Alright," Deacon started sounding more confused than anything, "So he calmed down Duke. Am I missing something?"

"I don't know," Tan admitted softly, "He just told me that he was going to check on Street and would call back in a minute. Then he hung up. That was three minutes ago."

A silence fell over the three of them and Tan was once again hit with the knowledge that he sounded like he was overreacting. He was literally timing out how long it took his friend to get back to him. Who the fuck did that?

There was a voice in the back of his head though. Reminding him that he hadn't actually seen Street since he left the hospital. Outside of Luca none of them had. Something that felt wrong on every level.

More than a few times he had thought of going over to visit his friend, but every time he started making those plans he got in his own head wondering if he should just give the younger man a little more time. He deserved it after everything.

With every day that passed it got harder to tell himself that he should go see Street. As much as he wanted to see the younger man he didn't know if he could with the image of him laying on the warehouse floor still stuck in his mind.

"Tan," Hondo said stepping forward and placing a hand on his shoulder.

He started to turn towards his boss an excuse already on the tip of his tongue. He barely got his mouth open when his phone started ringing. For split second he felt a panic roll through him not knowing what was going on.

"Lu-," he started to greet his friend.

"Tan!" the older man yelled loud enough that both Hondo and Deacon straightened up, "Track Street's phone! We need to get there. Now!"


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally that time when things start to fall into place and we find Street.
> 
> Just a couple more chapters. I hope you've enjoyed the ride because we're coming really close to the end of this story.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> If you want to be kept up to date with any upcoming stories or want to ask me to write a story for you please follow me on Facebook 'SilverMidnight52' or on Tumblr under SilverMidnightWrite! I own nothing.

Scrambling into his truck Luca tossed his phone to the side and punched in the location that Tan had messaged him into the GPS. At least he tried to put it in. For the first time since he joined SWAT he felt himself panicking when he should be calm and focused.

Ever since he was a child learned what it meant to be an officer from his father and grandfather he had prided himself on being able to hold it together. Both of them had drilled into him that being his job was to be the rock for the victims. He didn't get to panic. He had no real stake in what had already happened. They did.

Expect this time he had a stake. He hadn't been called to a crime scene where he had to learn the names of the people he was helping. No, he was chasing after someone that he cared a hell of a lot about.

Something that shouldn't scare him as much as it did. It wasn't as if it was the first time that he had been in that position before. Given it didn't happen often that someone on the team was put in a position like that outside of work, but it had happened before.

It was also Street. The man was a magnet for trouble. Inside and outside of work he was constantly getting into some kind of trouble. It was such a part of him that no one really questioned it anymore. He didn't question it anymore.

In all the times that he had seen the younger man injured though he never acted the way he was at the moment though. His personality didn't change. Well, outside of him acting his age. He never lost that playful youth that he had been rediscovering since joining the team.

This time was different. He wasn't himself. Luca had no idea who he was sharing his home with at the moment, but it wasn't his best friend and he was terrified that he wasn't going to get him back anytime soon.

Clenching his hands into fists he forced himself to take a calming breath. He needed to focus and remember his training. Street needed him to be at his best. He couldn't let his emotions take over, Not until his friend was home.

Which would have been a hell of a lot easier if he could get his brain to stop trying to figure out what was going on. That phone call… He had never heard the younger man sound like that before. He had never heard anyone sound like that before. That odd, devastating mix of fear, pain, heartbreak, and something else he couldn't quite identify. He wasn't sure he wanted to figure it out.

The phone called hadn't lasted long before it cut off completely. The sudden sound of silence had felt as if his heart had been ripped out of his chest. For a split second he hadn't know what he was supposed to do next.

Luckily, his training yelled at him to call Tan and get a track started. He hadn't been able to tell if the phone was shut off or died or whatever. He hadn't really cared either. He would have drove through the whole city to find Street.

In the end though, Tan had been able to trace the phone down and… A broken laugh fell from Luca's lips as he finally succeeded in typing the address into his GPS. There was no 'and'. Why was it he felt as if everything had been happening when nothing had changed?

Shaking his head he focused on the screen as the map finally pulled up a small black dot blinking steadily. There should have been at least a little relief at the sight, but he knew that it didn't mean anything. Just because that's where the phone was didn't mean his friend was there as well. And if he was there the likelihood of him being okay…

As soon as that thought entered his mind he pushed it away. The last thing he could do at the moment was think about all the what ifs. He was too aware that if he let his mind wonder even for a moment he'd lose it.

Pushing that thought away he started his truck and pulled out of the driveway. Tan had already told him that the rest of the team was already on their way since they had no idea what they were walking in on. Especially with the knowledge that Keller was still running around doing whatever the hell he was doing.

With everything that he was thinking in connection to Keller and Baylon that thought scared him. If he was right and Baylon had manipulated Keller into falling in love with him than his death would have sent him off the edge. If he found Street… He did not want to think about what that man would do to his friend.

Despite everything that he tried though he couldn't stop images from running through his head. They knew so little about Keller and his personality. There were endless possibilities for what he could do if he ever got his hands on Street. Add to that the condition that the younger man was currently in and the only way it could end was badly.

Tightening his grip on the steering wheel Luca forced himself not to speed up more than he already was. He was more than willing to get in trouble if it meant getting to Street faster, but without the siren and flashing lights he was just putting others in danger and he wouldn't do that.

Glancing at the map once more Luca couldn't help shaking his head as his brain finally started to think again. He could remember pulling into the driveway when he got home and noticing that his friends motorcycle was there. The knowledge that he wasn't on the bike had let him breathe a little easier.

At least at the time it had. According to the map though Street was far from home and there was something telling Luca that he hadn't called a cab to drive him there. Which meant that he had to have walked there.

That was almost a two hour walk from their place. A walk like that wasn't easy to do on a good day! And considering it was in the nineties it was definitely not a good day. That was without even mentioning the injuries that the kid currently had. He shouldn't be walking ten minutes let alone two hours.

With that in mind he knew that no matter what happened they were going to find Street in a state. All he could hope was that it was only some dehydration and heatstroke they had to deal with. It was a hell of a lot better than any of the alternatives.

Luca wanted to laugh as soon as he thought that. The last thing he should be wishing was to find his friend in any kind of bad way. After everything that had happened he didn't deserve to have more piled on top of him.

At the same time though, he wanted Street to be back in the hospital. It was a messed up thought, he was fully aware of that, but it was clear to see that he shouldn't have been released at all. The last thing he was was okay.

He never should have left the younger man alone. He had known that something was going on, but had chose to ignore it and go to work as if everything was fine. He should have known better than to abandon his friend like that.

All he had wanted to do though was end it. The whole case was tearing all of them apart and he knew that putting an end to it so they didn't have to think about it anymore would help them all. It wouldn't really solve anything, but it would help. They just had to find Keller and bring him in and things would start going back to normal. Slowly, but he'd take that over the limbo they were in.

Looking at the map once more he forced himself to take a deep breath seeing that he was only a few blocks from the dots location. Nodding his head to himself Luca looked back up just in time to notice a car pull up behind him.

A small smile came to his lips when he recognized it as one of the teams. A little of the pressure that he had been feeling since he left the house fell away at the sight and he could breathe a little lighter. He had no idea what he was about to be walking in on, but he always felt better knowing that he had people that he trusted at his back.

It didn't take much more driving until he was pulling over and jumping out of his truck. Before he could even slam his door shut Tan and Chris were by his side looking about as well as he knew he did. None of them had any idea what they were walking in on and that was always something that scared them all.

For a moment all three of them stood there trying to brace themselves for whatever they were about to find though they knew there was no chance of that. You couldn't brace for something when you had no idea what was going on.

With a short nod of his head Luca turned around and slowly started down the alleyway. His eyes darted around taking note of every nook and cranny that either someone could be hiding in or a phone could have been tossed. Behind him he heard the others following him and he knew they were doing the same thing.

Over the years he had searched alleyways more times than he could count. Each and every single time he was surprised by how much was there and how much they actually missed on the first look through. Even missing bodies a few times. If they didn't turn everything over then something was missed. Hell, things were missed even when they did.

A part of him wanted to think that they wouldn't be able to miss Street. Especially with the knowledge that he was who they were looking for. None of them were going to leave until they had something pointing out what was going on.

That thought terrified him more than he wanted to admit. Alleyways were the perfect place to…The perfect place to dump a body. There were so many deaths that happened in alleys. The idea of adding anything body, of adding Street, was too much.

"Shut up," a broken voice pleaded painfully, "Please! Just shut up!"

Clenching his teeth Luca forced himself to keep moving steadily. He couldn't let his emotions take over or he was going to miss something. Street needed him to be at his best and that was exactly what he was going to do.

As soon as he thought that he felt himself freeze. He knew that voice. He had heard it countless times over the years. At least he thought he knew it. That tone did not fit with anything he had ever heard his friend say before.

Something he knew he had been thinking a lot recently. Not even just about the tone of his voice either. Ever since Street got out of the hospital everything about him seemed off. From the way he spoke to how he acted to… Everything. It was just off.

"Just leave me alone!" the younger man pleaded the sentence breaking painfully.

Spinning around Luca looked around the space desperately forgetting everything about trying to be thorough. All that mattered was finding Street as quickly as possible. There was no way he was okay if he was yelling like that.

"Where the hell are you, Street?" Luca muttered under his breath.

"Street!" Chris suddenly yelled out.

She wasn't all that far ahead of him but Luca found himself running to her side along with Tan. Skidding to a stop next to the woman he felt his heart stop completely as he finally saw the younger man.

He looked so small and fragile as he sat on the ground curled into a ball. Street wasn't meant to look like that. The younger man might not be the biggest person, but he had a personality that knocked everyone back. At least it did with him.

It was then that Luca spotted the blood. Only one side of Street's face could be seen, but that was more than enough to see the long, deep scratch marks across the side of his face. Like he was trying to stop himself from hearing something.

"Call for a bus," Luca found himself ordering before taking a step forward, "Street?"

A soft whimper fell from the younger man as he tried to curl tighter around himself. It broke his heart to see his friend in so much pain. He wasn't meant to look that like. He had already gone through so much. It wasn't fair.

"Jimmy," he tried again moving so he was squatting down, "It's okay now. You're okay. It's Luca."

"Please," Street sobbed out his nails dragging down his face once more, "Stop."

"Jimmy, there's no one else here. It' just me and Chris and Tan. It's just us."

"No."

"They're not real. Whoever you're seeing they're not real. You're safe. Just open your eyes. Look at us. Look at me."

Luca watched as Street started to shake his head his hands falling away just enough for him to see the blood falling from his nose as well. His heart dropped to his stomach at the sight. Given the concussion that the younger man already had a bloody nose was not a good sign.

Feeling more than a little afraid he opened his mouth knowing he had to keep trying to calm Street down. He didn't get a sound out before a whine escaped his friend as he cracked his head painfully against the brick wall.

Moving quickly Luca wrapped his hands around Street's head trying to keep his steady as he tried to repeat the motion. His hands scrapped against the wall and he knew that he'd have to get them wrapped later, but as long as he could stop the man from hurting himself more he didn't care. Holding Street as tightly as he was willing he looked up at Chris and Tan praying that the ambulance would arrive soon.

"Baylon," Street suddenly whispered his fingers digging into Luca's arm.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What better way to spend time in a waiting room than talking about something you've been avoiding for years! That's what happens right?
> 
> Just a couple more chapters. I hope you've enjoyed the ride because we're coming really close to the end of this story.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> If you want to be kept up to date with any upcoming stories or want to ask me to write a story for you please follow me on Facebook 'SilverMidnight52' or on Tumblr under SilverMidnightWrite! I own nothing.

Flexing his hands against his thighs Tan did his best to push away the feeling of deja vu. He was once again sitting in a hospital waiting room waiting to hear news on Street. Waiting to hear if they had gotten to him fast enough. If he was going to be okay.

The only problem with that though was the fact that last time they had. He had known that what happened in that warehouse was still affecting the younger man, but he wasn't there anymore and Baylon was dead. He was supposed to be safe. At least healing.

Except he hadn't actually believed that. From the moment Street was awake and talking Tan had felt like something was wrong. He just hadn't known what he was supposed to do other than tell people to watch out and wait to see what to do next. In hindsight that wasn't the best of plans. Fuck, it wasn't even a plan at all.

It wasn't often that Tan allowed himself to feel fear for very long. No matter the situation he always had a voice in the back of his head reminding him that his job was to be the one that people turned to when they were afraid. He couldn't do his job properly if he got lost in those feelings.

So he pushed through them and did everything in his power to be stable. To be open-minded to the people around him. To be aware of his emotions without giving into them. To be strong when they felt as if the world was shaking them to their core. He'd do anything to keep as many people safe as possible.

At least that's what he had always hoped he did. With strangers it was easy. There was no real emotional attachment. He knew that they were experiencing the worst day of their lives so as long as he wasn't trying to harm them there wasn't really anything he could do to make it worse. Not being an asshole was surprisingly easy.

He had thought that was the way it would always be. Even when something happened with the team and their extended family he was always there. Just like each and every single one of them was always there for him if he needed some of the weight to be taken off. It was what made them as strong as they were.

That wasn't the case though. He had failed Street. As soon as he saw the younger man in the warehouse he knew that something was going on with him. A feeling that only grew when he saw him in the hospital. There had never been a doubt in his mind that something was going on. And he did nothing.

Okay, so he told Deacon that he thought they needed to watch him a little closer, but that didn't really help at all seeing as the only person that had seen Street since he got out of the hospital a handful of days before was Luca.

How was it possible that only a few days had passed since then? It felt as if they had been stuck in a loop for months. All of them scrambling to hold on to something that none of them were sure was even there anymore.

It was difficult to believe that a single case had thrown them all so far off. With all the training they had it should have been impossible for all of them to fall at once. They were supposed to be better than that.

He wasn't delusional enough to believe that they were perfect. Enough had happened over the years that they were all aware of the cracks in everyone's armor. It was why they were placed in teams in the first place. To balance each other when things got to be too much.

One of the hardest lessons that he ever had to learn was that all of them had triggers. It didn't matter what part of law enforcement you were in or how even tempered you thought you were there was something that was going to throw you off your game. It was only a matter of time and if you were lucky you knew it was a problem ahead of time.

It should have been easy to guess that one of their own getting hurt was going to effect them all. Especially when the one being hurt was one of the younger people on the team. It brought out the protective side in all of them. Street and Chris were never supposed to be hurt. Truly hurt. Scraps and bruises were one thing. A hospital visit was worse.

This time though it wasn't _a_ hospital visit. It was two. In less than a week. Both times Street looked. Tan had seen a lot of things over the years. More than he liked to think about. Seeing his friend act the way he was… He would never be able to get that image out of his head.

He had thought that nothing could be worse than seeing the younger man not fight against Baylon choking him to death. Then he walked into that alleyway and he had never seen anyone look the way he did.

Street had looked so small curled up against the way. His nails had been digging into the side of his head by his ears hard enough that blood had started to pool and work it way down. Not to mention the blood that had been flowing out of his nose. Then there were the bruises under his eyes that could only come from days with sleep. He looked like walking death. Then he tried to bash his head into the wall.

Feeling his stomach flip painfully he clenched his eyes shut trying to force the feeling away. It wasn't as if there was anything in his stomach to throw up anyway. Street wasn't the only one that hadn't been taking care of himself.

Throughout the case every single one of them had run themselves ragged trying everything they could to stop more deaths from happening. None of them had been sleeping well, or sleeping at all in some cases, and he knew that more than one meal had been skipped by each of them. Even if Street hadn't gotten hurt they were nowhere near their best.

Street had been hurt though. He had gotten hurt badly and Tan was scared. It hadn't even been a full week since the younger man had been released. Things like this shouldn't be happening. They shouldn't be this close to losing someone on the team this way.

"Victor," Bonnie called out rushing to his side her hand linking with his as she dropped into the chair next to him.

"Hey," he muttered his hand tightening around hers in a way that had to be painful.

For the first time since they had gotten to the hospital Tan pulled himself from his thoughts and looked around the room. Chris, Deacon, and Annie were standing by the window the older couple looking as if they were comforting Chris while Hondo and Hicks were by the coffee machine having a heated discussion.

His eyes ran over the scene a few more times trying to figure out why it felt as if something was wrong. It felt as if a ton of bricks hit him when he finally realized that Luca was nowhere to be seen. That wasn't like him. No matter what Luca was always there.

Keeping his hand clasped with Bonnie's he stood up and made his way over to Hondo and Hicks. Both men fell silent as he came to a stop by them but he couldn't bring himself to care about whatever they were discussing.

"Where's Luca?" he questioned hating how rough his voice sounded.

"I sent him with a nurse to check on his hands and clean him up a little," Hicks responded with a shake of his head.

Tan felt himself flinch as the image of Luca cradling Street's head trying to stop him from bashing it into the bricks. He could clearly see the pain on the older mans face his knuckles took the brunt of the force as he tried his best to calm their friend down. It hadn't worked though.

In all of their time as friends he had never seen a point when Luca couldn't get through to Street. Alright, so there was everything that happened with his mother, but that had been on a different level that he didn't even want to think about.

Luca and Street were best friends. Everyone knew that. A handful of them actually thought there might be something more going on between them though no one ever thought to bring it up with either man. Bringing it up would just end messily.

At the moment he couldn't help wondering if one of them should have tried to give either man a little push. With everything that was happening he knew that all of them were wondering if they were ever going to see Street again.

"Go," Bonnie said pulling Tan from his thoughts.

"What?" he asked looking down at his fiancee.

"I know you want to go check on him. Go."

Feeling his lips twitch into a smile he leaned down pressing a gentle kiss to her lips before turning and leaving the waiting room. It didn't take much to long to find someone that could point him in the right direction and soon he was standing outside of a closed exam room.

In that moment Tan felt himself freeze. As much as he wanted to knock on the door and see his friend he wasn't sure he could. He wanted a little more time in the limbo they were all stuck in before the world started up again. Before he could get too caught up in that train of thought though the door opened revealing a nurse and Luca.

"Hello?" the nurse started already trying to close the door behind him, "Can I help you with something?"

"No," Tan replied motioning to the room, "Just wanted to check on my friend."

The nurse looked behind him waiting until Luca nodded his head before walking out of the room fully. Giving the man a slight smile he slipped into the room and closed the door behind him not needing anyone to ease drop on what was about to happen.

"Hey," Luca offered climbing to his feet, "Any news?"

"Not yet," Tan answered crossing his arms over his chest, "Your hand okay?"

"Gonna be sore for awhile and won't be throwing punches, but it'll heal up."

"Good. That's good."

"Yeah."

The men fell silent after that. There were so many things he wanted to say, but looking at the older man he couldn't think of a single one. He had never seen Luca look so broken. That wasn't who his friend was.

Sighing softly Tan made his way over to the bed and sat down as Luca started to pace. Everything in him wanted to say something to comfort his friend, but he wasn't sure there was anything he could say. Not when the man turned round revealing his red rimmed, pain-filled eyes.

His stomach churned painfully at the sight and all he wanted to do was go find Hondo or Deacon. Those two, and Luca, were the ones that did the comforting on their team. Everyone else kind of tried and usually made things slightly worse while making the person laugh. It was how things went with them.

He was positive that under any other circumstance one of those two would be there. Nothing about this was normal though. All of them were doing the same thing Luca was. Questioning if they had missed something big in the past or if they could have prevented it.

As much as they hated to admit it there was a possibility that what was happening wasn't just because of Baylon. There were a lot of different things that could be happening to Street and until they heard from the doctor they knew nothing.

"He might not come out of this," Luca whispered unaware he was saying what Tan had been thinking, "And if he does he might not be the man we know. He could be a totally different person from…"

"From the man you love," Tan filled in just as softly.

"We love."

"Don't do that. Don't act like this isn't killing you a bit differently than the rest of us. We've all seen how you two are with each other."

A broken smile pulled on Luca's lips as he started to pace once more. Instantly Tan was questioning whether or not it was the right time to be bringing that up, but all of them had been ignoring it for so long he wasn't sure they could keep pretending it wasn't there.

"He's my best friend," Luca offered after a pregnant pause.

"I know," Tan agreed with a nod, "He knows that too."

"No, you don't…"

"You think if you tell him how you feel that you'll lose that relationship. I get that, but we're close to losing him now and that's without either of you saying anything."

A sigh fell from Tan's lips as Luca simply shook his head and continued to pace. When he had decided to find Luca in the first place he had hoped that he'd be able to find the words he was supposed to say to help. Now he'd just take the words that would get his friend to stop.

"Luca," Tan said standing up and forcing the other man to stop pacing, "What are you thinking?"

Before the other man could say anything the door swung open revealing Hondo. He had no idea how he was supposed to describe the look the older man was giving them, but he something told him it wasn't going to be good news.

"Hondo?" Luca questioned breaking the spell they were under.

"He's out of surgery," Hondo offered with a barely there smile, "But there's a lot. Come on, the doctor's going to explain it."


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess it's finally time to live up to that Luca x Street thing isn't it? I wasn't joking about slowburn!
> 
> Just a couple more chapters. I hope you've enjoyed the ride because we're coming really close to the end of this story.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> If you want to be kept up to date with any upcoming stories or want to ask me to write a story for you please follow me on Facebook 'SilverMidnight52' or on Tumblr under SilverMidnightWrite! I own nothing.

Blinking his eyes open once more Street let out a soft sigh seeing the all too familiar hospital roof staring back at him. It seemed so stupid hoping that he was going to wake up in his own room given the fact that he already knew he was in the hospital, but he truly didn't want to deal with what was going on.

He wasn't actually all that sure he fully understood what was going on. When he had woken up before it had been to Dr. Wells and two nurses watching him. It had felt as if they were waiting for him to have a fit or something.

For a moment all of them had stayed quiet before Dr. Wells had started to ask him how he was feeling. The words _I'm fine_ had been on the tip of his tongue as he tried to sit up. That was when a sharp pain raked through his body leaving him crying out as everyone moved to try to help him.

It felt as if he had been thrown into broken glass. The pain was embedded under his skin. Every inch of his body was on fire and there was nothing he could do as the world around him started to fade out.

He had no idea how long had passed before a wave of cool numbness seeped into his bones. It didn't stop the pain fully, but at the moment he hadn't cared. As long as he didn't feel like screaming anymore he'd take it.

Street had never felt so weak as he allowed the nurses to help him get situated in the bed once more. Any other time he would have fought against that type of treatment, but he didn't have the energy to help them.

After that it had been a lot of talking and answering questions. Most of which he could barely remember. There were words that stuck out to him, but for the most part it felt as if there was a haze surrounding his mind that he couldn't brush away.

That didn't stop him from thinking and trying to figure it out though. From the bits and pieces that he remembered something had been missed the first time he was there. Something that was made all the worse by the fact that he wasn't sleeping and was running himself ragged.

Everything felt as if it was right out of his reach though. He wanted to hold onto what had been said, but he couldn't. Instead he got to lay in a hospital bed once more feeling as if the world was slipping away from him.

Unsurprisingly, that was something that Dr. Wells had warned him about. According to her it was going to be awhile before he felt like himself. At the moment he wasn't even sure he knew what that would feel like. A part of him wasn't even sure he wanted to attempt finding out.

In all of his life he had never felt as confused and lost as he did right then. It was as if his thoughts were racing without anything actually being said. At least he didn't understand what was trying to be said.

He wasn't used to that feeling and he never wanted to feel it again. He was aware that he had been hurt badly enough that it messed with his head, but even with that knowledge it was one of the most terrifying things he had ever felt.

Though it probably didn't help that he wasn't completely sure exactly what it was that was wrong with him. It didn't matter that he was aware that something was wrong when he couldn't say what it was that was going on.

Dr. Wells had told him. He was fully aware that she had told him. Hell, it had been more than once. Yet as soon as the conversation was over it was as if all the details were gone with it. He knew the basics, but that was it.

As bad as it sounded he almost wanted to hit himself. Anything to get his head back on straight. He just wanted to be able to think without feeling as if a single sentence was enough to stress himself out. He, shockingly enough, liked thinking.

Especially after the last few days. He might not be able to fully remember what happened, but he could remember just wanting to think and work through it all. He wanted to be able to feel like he could breathe again.

Reaching up he started to run a hand through his hair only to pull back with a hiss of pain. That was right. The sides of his head were hurt. Something had happened to it. No, he had done something to it. To himself. How had he forgotten that?

"Jim?" a voice questioned from the doorway.

Turning away from a window he hadn't even realized he was staring out of Street found himself blinking a few times until his eyes focused on the people. He knew that one of them was Luca but the other one… He should know him. He was one of the nurses on the floor. What was his name again?

"Hey," he greeted slowly pushing himself up so he was fully sitting, "What's up?"

"Lunch time," the nurse replied with a smile as Luca took a seat next to him.

"Right. What are we having again?"

The nurse glanced at him quickly before he moved to stand next to him. Street let out a sigh knowing that he shouldn't have asked that question. He should have known what the answer was already.

"You picked what you wanted for lunch after you finished breakfast," the nurse offered as he started to clear off the table so he could put his food down, "Can you tell me what it was?"

Looking down Street trying to force away the need to tell the man off. He was just doing his job and, given the fact he couldn't remember what it was he ordered, he couldn't blame him for questioning it.

"That's okay," the nurse stated when Street didn't answer, "Your brain is still healing so your short term memory is going to be hit or miss. You ordered a hamburger for lunch."

"With fries and a fruit salad," Street said with a nod of his head, "Right. I remember now."

"Good. Can you tell me what you had for breakfast?"

"Eggs and toast."

"Alright. You are remembering what's happening to you. As your brain heals it'll get easier. Do you have any questions before I leave you to eat?"

"I…"

"Street," Luca cut in resting a hand on his thigh as if he knew he was going to brush the question off.

Swallowing roughly he forced himself to looked up at his best friend. The look the older man was giving him made him freeze for a second. It was the same one that Baylon had given him when they were fighting.

It was as if he was looking through him to his very core. For a moment Street expected to feel an icy hand gripping at his heart, but that didn't happen. The look was the same, but from his friend it was warmer somehow.

He couldn't help a smile tugged on his lips as he remembered how often he got that look from his friend. Before Baylon he hadn't been able to put to words what it meant and after him it was tainted in a way. Having Luca look at him like that though made him feel better.

"Your name," Street finally answered looking back at the nurse, "I don't remember…"

"That's okay," he offered placing s food on the table, "My name is Raphael. Is it okay if I ask you a few more questions before I go?"

"Sure."

"Okay. Jim, can you tell me how long you've been in the hospital?"

"Three days? I think. I wasn't awake for some of it."

"Good. And what is your doctors name?"

"Dr. Wells."

"Right. Do you remember why you were brought here?"

Street couldn't help squirming slightly at the question. There were a lot of details from the past few days that he couldn't remember clearly, but there was one thing that stuck out in his mind no matter how hard he tried to shake it. Eliot Baylon.

Ever since he woke up he had been waiting to see the man standing in the room with him. That twisted smile playing on his lips. Every time he closed his eyes he couldn't help keeping them shut just a moment longer in hopes that whatever vision might be there would be gone.

As odd as it sounded, he never forgot the fact that Tan had killed Baylon in that warehouse. He had been close to unconsciousness when it all happened, but he did remember the mans body dropping onto the ground next to him. Dead.

None of that had ever been in question for him. It wasn't as if that knowledge had stopped him from seeing Baylon. Still, it didn't matter how many times he had repeated that thought in his head the man had always been there.

He couldn't help the panic that filled him at that. Baylon had basically taken over his mind for the last few days. Every second of every moment he had ended up sitting there wondering what was wrong with him and what he was supposed to do to fix it.

The fear that had been swirling around in his mind ever since he first saw Baylon in his room was exhausting. He felt as if he everything inside of him had been pulled out one by one and shoved back in without a care where they landed.

He was so tired of all of it. Of feeling as if he was insane. All he wanted to do was finally put that man in his past and move on. Except he knew he couldn't. He still had the exact same problem he had the first time he woke up in the hospital. He hadn't actually faced any of it yet.

Despite the fact that he felt as if he had been thinking about it non-stop he knew that wasn't true. He was still just as lost and confused as he had been before. Only this time he wasn't completely sure he wanted to face it.

"Jim?" Raphael questioned knocking him from his thoughts.

"What?" he found himself asking back hating how soft his voice sounded, "I'm sorry. Can you repeat the question?"

"Can you tell m exactly why you're here? Your symptoms?"

"I… Concussion and… A few other things. I don't… I can't really think of them right now."

Raphael stared at Street for a moment before nodding his head. It was clear that he didn't believe what was being said, but he also knew better than to try to push him. Given how his mind was at the moment he was thankful for that.

"That's okay, Jim," Raphael offered with a soft smile, "Your brain is still healing itself and it is a list. Why don't I leave you to your lunch and visit. Dr. Wells told me that she was going to stop by later and you two can talk things out then."

"Yeah. That's… Thanks."

With one last nod of his head Raphael left the room. Almost instantly an awkward air filled the room. It was an odd feeling considering the was there with Luca. The older man never made him feel as if he didn't belong. It was one of the reasons he cared about the man so much.

Never before in his life had he met someone that was just so easy to get along with. It was as if they fell into place without a second glance and he would never get over that. It was one of the best things he had ever felt.

Now that there was an awkwardness he didn't know what to think. He had been so lost in his mind that he couldn't actually remember even talking to Luca over the last few days. Had he done something to hurt his friend that he couldn't remember?

"Street," Luca said pulling him from his thoughts, "What are you-"

"What happened?" he cut his friend off before he could stop himself.

"What?"

"Luca, it's driving me insane that I can't remember the last few days. You were there. You know what happened. Tell me."

"Maybe we should wait until Dr. Wells comes. She can talk with you."

"Please, Luca, I need to know. Please."

For a moment it looked like the older man was trying to come up with an argument. There was a voice in the back of his head telling him that he was putting his friend in an awkward position, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He needed answers.

"What do you remember?" Luca suddenly asked an almost guilty look coming to his face.

"About what happened?" Street started before shaking his head and leaning back in his bed, "I remember a lot actually. Just not details. I mean, I remember feeling as if he was still here."

"Baylon?"

"Yeah. I was seeing him. I knew that he was dead, but he still right there and nothing I did got rid of him. I tried. I tried so hard but he was there no matter what I did."

Swallowing roughly Street looked over at his friend trying to read the emotions on his face. Despite how crazy he sounded he didn't want the older man to think about him like that. The idea of," losing Luca was not something he wanted to face anytime soon.

"You never talked about it," Luca offered his expression carefully guarded, "We know a little because of what Tan saw, but he walked in at the end of what happened."

"It wasn't that big of a deal, Luca. I've been in worse situations."

"You're in the hospital for the second time."

Street couldn't help the slight smile that tugged on his lips at that. There was nothing amusing about the situation, but there was something about Luca that made him smile. Not that it was an uncommon occurrence. It was one of the first things that he had been…

It was one of Luca's best traits. No matter what was going on in Street's head his friend never failed to make him smile and bring him out of his thoughts. The fact that they were friends never ceased to amaze him.

"Fair point," Street replied his eyes dropping to his food, "I don't know what happened. It felt normal for the most part. I chased Baylon down and tried to arrest him but he started to talk."

"What did he say?" Luca questioned staring at him.

"He… It was weird. He wasn't afraid or concerned at all. Like he had been planning it or something."

"What do you mean?"

"When I got to the warehouse it was like he was just waiting for me. He was completely calm and composed. There was nothing to indicate that he had just shot a place up or that he was on the run from us. I don't know how to explain it. I had never seen someone that I was arresting act like that. It threw me off. It was probably easy after that to get into my head."

As much as he hated it he could remember that night very clearly. He wasn't sure he'd ever be able to forget what happened even though he wanted nothing more than to forget that the man had ever existed.

"I tried to ignore him," Street continued after a moment, "But… It was as if he could see through me. The way he talked was like he knew what to say to get to me. It was nothing I hadn't heard before and I shouldn't have let it get to me, but I couldn't stop myself. I fell for it."

"You were exhausted," Luca offered softly, "We all were. Honestly, none of us should have been in the field."

"Maybe. I don't know. I have no idea how he was able to do what he did. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. I remember repeating to myself to focus and remember my training, but none of it mattered. He was in my head and it was too late."

"Is that how he got the drop on you in the fight?"

"No, I don't know if I could have held my own against him with everything that was going on, but there wasn't really a fight at all. He rushed me and I hit my head when I went down. It dazed me minute and by then he was on top of me. He kept aiming for my head. Then his hands were around my throat. That was the end of it."

"That would explain the concussion you have. If all he did was aim for the head and then try to choke you it's no wonder you got as hurt as you did. Do you remember what happened after you woke up here?"

Street started to shake his head only to freeze when it hit him why Luca had that guilty look on his face before. He couldn't believe that it had taken him so long to realize what was going on. How many times had he tricked people into talking about what happened to them by just starting a conversation? He should have known what was going on.

It made a lot of sense too. Luca had pointed out that he hadn't talked about it before. It made sense that they would want answers. Especially with everything that had happened. They needed to know if he was sane or if it was better to cut ties now and start looking for a replacement.

He couldn't even be mad at them for that. The last few days might have been bad for him, but it wasn't as if he really remembered any of it. Luca and the team were different. They knew, they watched, as he spiraled.

"Street?" Luca questioned causing the younger man to sigh.

"Yeah," he nodded his head slowly, "What did you need to know?"

"What?"

"Come on, Luca, it's fine. You and the team need to know how far gone I am. I get it. Just ask whatever questions you have. Let's get this over with."

Street was expecting his friend to deflate at him figuring out what was going on. It was always better in these situations to never let the person being questioned figure out that they were being questioned. The answers were more truthful.

Instead Luca looked angry for some reason. Street opened his mouth to reassure the man that he really did get it and that it was fine. Sometimes you had to do what you had to do. He might not like it, but he really did understand.

Before he could think of something to calm the older man though Luca was leaning down letting their lips graze together. Freezing completely he stared at the man as he pulled back just enough that they weren't touching though he could still feel his breath ghosting across his lips. For the first time in days Street couldn't bring himself to be afraid at the feeling of not being able to breathe.

Reaching up slowly he placed his hand on the side of Luca's face and guided him down once more. Out of all the times he had imagined kissing the older man having it be in the hospital… Actually happened more than he wanted to think about.

"I care about you, Street," Luca finally said pulling back once more, "I've never been more scared than I have this week."

"I'm sorry," Street found himself muttering wanting nothing more than to curl in on himself.

"Don't. It wasn't your fault. It was just… For the first time you shut me out. Completely. You didn't even do that with your mom. I didn't… I don't know what to do. I don't know how to help you."

Smiling softly Street leaned up and brushed their lips together once more. As he pulled back he opened his mouth to try to reassure his friend only for the door to his room to open once more and Tan and Hondo to walk in fully decked in their gear.

"We found Keller," Hondo offered in way of greeting.


End file.
